Wet weather set to continue

THE miserable summer weather conditions that left a dark cloud over the country for most of July looks set to continue for much of August, according to weather experts.

Pierce Corbyn of British forecasting company Weather Action claims conditions could deteriorate even further over the coming weeks with the risk of thundery deluges and local flooding.

Mr Corbyn bases his predictions on solar weather techniques and, to his credit, he is renowned for his accuracy. According to his website, www.weatheraction.com, his technique uses “predictable aspects of solar activity — particle and magnetic effects from the sun as the basis for forecasting weather many months and even years in advance.

“We expect more thundery deluges and local flooding, but especially in the central and north parts of the country, often less wet in the south and west,” he told RTÉ. “The bank holiday Monday will not be too bad.”

He said there are going to be a lot of wet spells, the ones towards the end of the month will be preceded by warm weather.

In its prediction for the next five days Met Éireann says we can expect a mixture of sunshine and showers in warm close temperatures.

“It will be warm and humid for the rest of this week, with temperatures slightly above the average. The weather will be unsettled, with dry and sunny spells, as well as bands of showery rain moving across the country,” it said. “Some significant amounts of rainfall are expected too, and there is the risk of some locally heavy downpours and some thunderstorm activity. It will be generally cloudy, however, there will be some hazy sunshine at times.”