Ireland is in “Absolute Drought” With Temperatures Reaching 28°C

The majority of the country today officially entered the “absolute drought” state. In the past two weeks, 24 of the 25 weather stations did not have rainfall recorded.

Starting at 8 am on Friday, a hosepipe will be banned throughout the country. The Irish Water Company warned that the ban may last at least until July 31 to allow the water source to be replenished.

The dry spell is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, and Met Éireann said it expects no rain in the next 10 days.

On average, demand for all water resources in the country has increased by 15%, and the Irish Water Company stated that it “cannot be sustained for any period of time”.

Absolute drought is defined as a rainfall of less than 0.2 mm for 15 consecutive days or more. Belmullet, Co Mayo’s weather station is the only site in the country’s 25 sites to record rainfall for the past two weeks, although some brief showers were reported in Munster last night.

Senior meteorologist John Eagleton stated that the next 10 days of rainfall will be “practically nothing“, this is the longest time MetÉireann can make predictions.

According to Met Eireann, temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are expected to be comparable to last weekend’s temperatures, when Dublin was bathed in bright sunshine.

A Met Eireann spokesperson said, “This weekend will be very sunny, with temperatures in western areas reaching to 24 to 25 C.”

“However, the east will be even warmer, with conditions ranging from 26 to 28 C.”

As the capital has experienced the driest June in nearly 80 years, the hot weather may last until next week.

The forecaster added,“We should see similar warm and dry conditions run into next week as the high pressure affecting us at the moment is expected to last for a bit longer.”