Global warming is here, says Met Éireann

TEMPERATURES in October were more than two degrees higher than normal confirming that the country is experiencing what Met Éireann described as the first effects of global warming.

In Valentia and Belmullet it was the warmest October since Samuel Beckett left to collect the Nobel Prize in 1969 and in most other stations it was the hottest since 2001.

Figures for the month were two degrees higher than the 30-year standard used by meteorologists to record settled weather patterns, while for the past three years the average temperature has been at least half a degree higher than the standard.