FORECASTERS AROUND EUROPE are warning of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms, and Ireland is no exception.

The record high for the month of May in Ireland has been provisionally broken once again, with Met Éireann recording 30.7C in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over Western Europe is behind the high temperatures.

Met Éireann meteorologist Siobhán Ryan told The Journal that it has created the settled conditions and blue skies seen in recent days.

“High pressure can occur any time of the year, but in this particular episode, the high pressure obviously is happening at the very tail end of spring, coming into our summer,” she explained.

“At this stage of the year, the temperatures can be that bit warmer, particularly for the continent, and so that means it creates what we call a heat dome.”

In the UK, the weather agency said Monday was the hottest May day on record, with temperatures hitting 34.8C in south-west London – a full two degrees above the previous high.

Temperatures in Spain were expected to peak later this week at 38C, while parts of Italy imposed restrictions on working outdoors.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is amplifying such extremes, with Europe warming faster than the global average and heatwaves growing more frequent and severe.

Warmer and warmer

High pressure is “falling air” – it’s not moving upwards in the sky.

“That means that the air heats day on day, the same air, so you’re starting from a higher base each and every day,” Ryan said.

“Say tonight’s temperature gets down to 14 degrees, and that means tomorrow morning it’s 14 degrees, and then the air continues to warm up during the day … it’s a warmer day than the day previous, when the morning temperature might have been nine degrees.”

“It’s basically creating a continual heating up of the air, and it might be only marginal, but generally for a lot of the area that it affects, it means the temperature will continue to steadily rise for the main.”

The heat dome will be “displaced” over the weekend, when the Atlantic breaks through, creating more mixed conditions.

With reporting by AFP