Temperatures soar, and there’s more to come

YESTERDAY was the hottest day of the year so far, and today and tomorrow are promising to be even warmer — which has the workers of Ireland scratching their heads and asking why could this not have happened at the weekend?

As office staff grappled with sweaty shirts and sticky traffic jams, children around the country enjoyed the balmiest conditions of 2006’s summer holidays.

By mid-afternoon, Met Éireann said the temperature in Kilkenny had peaked near 29C, making it the hottest place in the country.

A spokesman for the metrological service’s climate records office confirmed the city was out on its own as the hottest location so far this year — a distinction it usually achieves.

He said: “It was definitely the warmest day of the year — but it could even go a little higher over the next few days, maybe up to 29C or 30C.

“The highest temperature last year was 30.3C on July 12 at Piltown, Co Kilkenny.

“That is an area prone to getting very high temperatures but, looking at the forecast, it could go higher again by midweek.”

However, even if this week’s temperatures top last year, it will be still a couple of degrees below the highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland when on June 26, 1887, the thermometer at Kilkenny Castle soared to 33.3C.

In the 20th century, the hottest day was at Boora, Co Offaly, in June, 1976, when it tipped 32.4C.

Although Kilkenny enjoyed the warmest moment of the year, Shannon Airport has recorded the highest average temperature throughout the month of July, albeit with a slightly cooler 16.7C.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, forecasters are expecting temperatures of 37C today and they are tipping the French city of Nantes to be the hottest place in western Europe at a sweltering 39C.