Northern Ireland basks in hottest day of 2019

Thursday has been the hottest day of the year so far in Northern Ireland, the Met Office has confirmed.
June 27 is the hottest day of the year so farJune 27 is the hottest day of the year so far
June 27 is the hottest day of the year so far

And the warm spell could soon meet the Met Office’s official definition of a heat wave with sunny weather to come on Friday and Saturday.

Met Office meteorologist Steven Keaces told the News Letter on Thursday afternoon that the 25.5 degrees Celsius recorded in Castlederg, Co Tyrone was the hottest so far this year.

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It was a similar story elsewhere in Northern Ireland with afternoon highs of 24 celsius in Thomastown and 23.9 in Derrylin in Co Fermanagh.

In the east of Northern Ireland, there was still some glorious sunshine but the mercury didn’t reach the same heights as in Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh.

And Mr Keaces painted a pretty picture for the weekend.

“For Northern Ireland to meet the definition of a heatwave we need to have maximum daily temperatures of at least 25 degrees for three consecutive days,” he explained. “We’ve had that today (Thursday), we’re likely to get somewhere in and around that value tomorrow if not slightly higher, and there is a chance we may see those sorts of temperatures again on Saturday.”