Former tropical storm Alex to bring rain and heavy winds to Ireland this weekend
The unsettled weather will continue to bring the possibility of rain showers over the rest of the weekend, the national forecaster said. Picture Denis Minihane.
As the tail end of a former tropical storm passes over Ireland this weekend, we can expect the showers and warm conditions to continue for the next few days.
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According to Met Éireann, Storm Alex is currently tracking across the Atlantic where it is expected to bring winds of up to 60kph to coastal areas, having brought heavy rain to southern Florida over the weekend.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on Tuesday, an unusually early start to the storm season but not unprecedented for Florida.
Southern parts of the state experienced flooding from heavy rain and wind on Saturday with conditions testing the system of drainage pumps the city of Miami has recently installed as climate change has increasingly made flooding an issue in the low-lying area.
Friday is due to be a breezy and blustery day with widespread rain showers, according to Met Éireann.
The highest temperatures will be between 15C and 19C, with the strongest winds in the west of the country along the coast.
The unsettled weather will continue to bring the possibility of rain showers over the rest of the weekend, the national forecaster said.
On Saturday, the west and north of the country will see persistent rain, but temperatures may still reach highs of 18C in some areas.
The rain is expected to begin to ease off by Sunday with Met Éireann forecasting some dry sunny spells between light showers.
Monday looks like it will be a cloudy day with some rain showers, the forecaster has said.
Storm Alex was a newer version of the storm that was called Hurricane Agatha when it slammed into Mexico’s Pacific Coast early last week, killing at least nine people and leaving 20 missing. It got a new name once the storm crossed Mexico into the Atlantic basin.
Last month, was the fifth hottest May on record globally, joint with May of 2018.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that records were broken in southwestern Europe, with temperatures breaking national and local records due to a heatwave.
Temperatures also exceeded the average in an area stretching from western Siberia, across central Asia to northern India and Pakistan, as well as over the Horn of Africa, southern USA, Mexico and even Antarctica.
However, in eastern Europe temperatures remained below average, as was the trend over much of South America, parts of the Arctic and western Canada.
For more information see the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
