Northern Ireland hotter than expected today - and outlook for Friday now better than originally thought
Northern Ireland enjoyed an even warmer day on Thursday than the one before, marking four straight days of temperatures well above 20C – and the Province now looks set to be one of the best places to be in the UK this weekend, according to the Met Office.
It is an improvement on what had originally been forecast, with today and the weekend now set to be warmer than initial predictions showed.
Met Office forecaster Dan Stroud said this is due to changes in a low-pressure system to the south of the British Isles, “subtle” variations in which can have “vast” effects elsewhere.
The highs on Thursday had originally been predicted to be about 18C, possibly 19C at a stretch.
In the event the actual highest temperature on Thursday was 22.7C at Armagh city at 2.40pm (followed by 22.6C at the Giant’s Causeway at 2.16pm, and 22.5C at Castlederg at 3.57pm).
That means since this latest burst of good weather began in earnest on Monday, the Province’s daily highs have been:
– 21.8C at Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, on Monday;
– 23.7C at Magilligan, Co Londonderry, on Tuesday;
– 22.5C at the Giant’s Causeway on Wednesday;
– Then 22.7C in Armagh on Thursday.
So what’s now thought to be in store for the days ahead for Northern Ireland?
Mr Stroud told the News Letter last night: “A little bit of a cloudier start on Friday morning. That will lift and burn back quite nicely, with some decent amounts of autumn sunshine on offer. High teens, perhaps low 20s in some spots.
"For Saturday, generally a cloudier day but still with some sunny spells in the mix. Still dry, highs thanks to the clouds of high teens at best – very decent for September still.
"For Sunday we have an increasing risk of showers moving up from the south during the morning. Most of NI is going to remain dry, a little on the cloudy side. Mid to high teens.”
He added: “Northern Ireland and Scotland are probably going to be the best places to be this weekend, because much of England and Wales is going to be ‘enjoying’ a lot of showers and longer spells of rain. Scotland and Northern Ireland is the place to be.”
Monday will bring the Province “sunny spells and scattered showers”, followed by “bands of rain starting to approach from the west midweek” and a return to “usual autumn fare”.