{"id":517345,"date":"2026-06-25T07:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517345\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T07:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:26:11","slug":"ireland-braces-for-hottest-day-of-2026-as-heatwave-grips-europe-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517345\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland braces for hottest day of 2026 as heatwave grips Europe \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The punishing heatwave<\/a> that has swept across Europe, during which temperatures have climbed to unprecedented highs, is set to continue on Thursday. Moreover, Ireland is bracing for the hottest day of 2026, possibly smashing a 140-year record. <\/p>\n

Soaring temperatures<\/a> in France, Italy, Spain and England and other countries in western Europe have put significant strain on tens of millions of people. One analysis estimated that close to 100 million people in Europe are facing temperatures of more than 35 degrees.<\/p>\n

Temperatures climbed to 41 degrees in Nantes and surrounding areas in western France on Wednesday, with Paris experiencing similar highs. That left one-third of France\u2019s administrative regions on notice for an elevated risk of forest fires due to the spiking temperatures, low humidity, winds and dry ground conditions.<\/p>\n

\"WhileWhile Met \u00c9ireann\u2019s predicted value range for Thursday is between 25 and 31 degrees, it could go higher in the west and midlands. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Zookeepers at the Dublin Zoo are feeding animals frozen juices to help keep them cool in the heat wave. Video: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s forecasting agency Aemet warned that parts of the country faced \u201csignificant danger\u201d from the extraordinarily high temperatures, which surpassed 40 degrees in some northern regions. <\/p>\n

The highest temperature in Ireland yesterday<\/a> was 27.9 degrees at Moore Park in Co Cork, followed by 27.7 degrees at Oak Park in Co Carlow. But Met \u00c9ireann\u2019s Holly O\u2019Neill warned a new heat record was \u201cpossible\u201d today.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Highest temperature in Ireland 27.9 degrees in Co Cork as Britain records hottest ever June dayOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was in Kilkenny in 1887 when the dial reached 33.3 degrees. While Met \u00c9ireann\u2019s predicted value range for today is between 25 and 31 degrees, it could go higher in the west and midlands. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is possible that we could see that temperature record being broken today,\u201d said O\u2019Neill. \u201cIt\u2019s just a case of seeing how it develops throughout the day and whether or not we see those temperatures climb.\u201d <\/p>\n

She noted that even if that long-standing record is not breached, the high temperatures have been significantly warmer than June norms, when values hover between 15 and 18 degrees.<\/p>\n

Heatwave grips Europe as temperatures pass 40\u00b0C. Video: Eoin Ronayne <\/p>\n

According to O\u2019Neill, Thursday will be hot and humid with the status yellow heat warning effective until Friday. She said there was some uncertainty as to whether thunderstorms would develop and, if they do, \u201cit\u2019ll most likely be along that west and northwest coast. We are obviously keeping a close eye on it and they could be potentially impactful if they do occur.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"Heatwave chaos in Europe; and the extradition of US millionaire Jason Cardiff<\/p>\n

The weather has been \u201cexceptional,\u201d said meteorologist and emeritus professor at Maynooth University John Sweeney. \u201cThis supercharging of these extreme events adds 2 to 4 degrees on top of the normal maximum temperatures <\/a>that we would have experienced over the past 40 or 50 years. So it is a change to something that\u2019s the new normal and is likely to be more commonplace in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen it with floods, we\u2019ve seen it with windstorms, and we\u2019re now seeing it with heatwaves. It is a message that the regime has changed.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said there was no question the scorching weather was a direct consequence of climate change and said normal heatwaves were being \u201ctopped up by climate change. We had extreme events before, but these events are climate on steroids, in a sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alan O\u2019Reilly of Carlow Weather said there were two weather stations that would be watched closely: the appropriately named Newportfurnace in Co Mayo; and Athenry in Co Galway. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is going to be hotter in the midlands and the west as the edge of the heat dome moves over Ireland and Newportfurnace is the one many people will be looking at. That is the one to keep an eye on,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The punishing heatwave that has swept across Europe, during which temperatures have climbed to unprecedented highs, is set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,1191,43,18335,15950],"class_list":["post-517345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-met-eireann","tag-news","tag-weather-events","tag-weather-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}