First heatwave of the year officially confirmed for Northern Ireland as UK June record is smashed
Northern Ireland continues to bask in what is now officially a heatwave, while the June record for the UK has now been broken.
Temperatures exceeded 25C in Co Tyrone today, meaning the Met Office’s definition of ‘heatwave’ in NI has now been met.
The Met Office told the News Letter it is the first heatwave the province has seen this year.
And tomorrow looks set to continue the pattern, with temperatures in parts of NI predicted to rise above 28C for the second time this week.
In Northern Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England and Wales, a heatwave is three consecutive days of 25C or above (with that threshold rising to 28C the further south-east in the UK you go).
On Monday, a reading of 25.3C was recorded in Castlederg.
On Tuesday, a high of 28.1C was recorded at Katesbridge in south Co Down.
Today’s top three hottest spots in the Province are as follows:
l Castlederg: 25.4C (at 12.39pm)
l Hillsborough: 24.3C (at 2.40pm)
l Derrylin, Fermanagh: 24.2C (at 1.35pm).
Whilst wisps of cloud were a feature of much of Northern Ireland yesterday, most of the province is set to have clear blue skies essentially all day tomorrow.
Here are six locations, one in each county, and their expected maximum temperatures tomorrow listed by the Met Office:
Carrickfergus: 26C
Newcastle: 26C
Omagh: 29C
Limavady: 28C
Belleek, Fermanagh: 30C
Portadown: 29C.
The all-time top temperature for June in the province is June 30, 1976, when Knockarevan in Fermanagh hit 30.8C.
Friday and the weekend are then expected to be cooler in Northern Ireland, with rain in parts on Friday and Saturday, perhaps heavy and thundery at times, followed by a bright Sunday with scattered showers.
Meanwhile the record for the UK’s hottest-ever June day was broken today, with a provisional temperature of 36C surpassing the previous record from the summer of 1976.
The temperature was recorded both at Wisley, Surrey, and Gosport, Hampshire, the Met Office said.
It breaks the previous June top temperature of 35.6C recorded in in 1976 and 1957, the forecaster said.
The heatwave has led to health warnings and school closures in GB.
Figures are currently provisional and would be verified at the end of the heatwave to check if it is indeed a new national record.
Met Office science manager Amy Doherty said: “If confirmed, a new June daily temperature record would be significant, especially following on the heels of the recent records set in May.
“The new record provides further evidence that temperatures previously considered extreme are becoming increasingly common as a result of human-induced climate change.”
If 38C is recorded in GB tomorrow, that will make it one of the top five days ever recorded and hotter than any day of the 20th century.
Scotland’s high today was 27C in Charterhall, Berwickshire, and in Wales it was 33.3C in Cardiff.