Why is NI getting such extreme heat: Met Office meteorologist explains that it’s all about the jet stream
Mr Partridge explained: “Weirdly, the heat is all that bit further north and west than what we usually expect.
“It is to do with the jet stream. The jet stream is very far north at the moment, so it’s been well and truly buckled across from America, over the Atlantic, which has sent it really far north. It’s in Iceland at the moment, which has allowed this really big area of high pressure to move up – which is kind of normal for the summer for high pressure to move north to the southern parts of the UK and the southern parts of Ireland.
“But it’s just that bit farther north and west than usual.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe said Northern Ireland is almost in the middle of an area of high pressure at present, which has led to the extreme weather conditions.
“Really, it’s mainly centred not far off Northern Ireland,” he said. “You’re kind of right in the middle of that high pressure which has meant really, really light winds. That has allowed those temperatures to build up. Plus, it’s been there for a good spell now and it’s obviously there at the time of year when the sun is at its strongest.”
He continued: “So you have really strong sunshine, really light winds, and it’s been there for the best part of a week.
“That allows the ground to warm up quite a lot. You’ve also had really, really mild nights so the ground has not cooled down very much overnight. So each day it’s starting at a higher temperature, so each day just gets warmer and warmer.
“Basically, that’s what happens.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMoving on to the days ahead, the weather expert said: “There’s a really good chance the record might go again tomorrow [Friday] because all the indications are that it might be a smidgen warmer than it was today.
“What usually happens is that all those same things happen, but it’s usually farther south and east. So it’s usually sat over northern France and south east England.
“As we go into the weekend, we get low pressure pushing in from the south west and that basically shoves the high pressure out of the way a little bit.
“What will happen is the wind direction changes, and it comes around to more of a north westerly. There will be a bit more in the way of wind than what we’ve had in a while.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“By Saturday, there will be a noticable change. We’re going to be back down to mid-20s, but staying pretty good. On Sunday we’re going to be around the same.
“By the time we get to Monday, it’s not going to be cold, but maybe in and around 18-21.”