A leading climatologist and professor at Maynooth University has warned that Ireland will eventually see similar effects of climate change like other European countries, amid a third summer of heatwaves across the continent.
John Sweeney is a Climatologist and Professor Emeritus, and he told Newstalk that this is the third European heatwave in as many years. He said: “We’re embarking on this third European heatwave this summer, and we’re getting a taste of it here in Ireland. It’s been a very sticky night for most people and even as late as 1:00 am the temperature at Dublin Airport was still at 20C and it’s only gone down to about 17C overnight.
“So, we’re in exceptional circumstances, but in Europe of course, it is now much more extreme than that with temperatures at around 42C to 45C in the South of Spain. We can say, how often does that heatwave that we might get over the next few weeks occur now, compared to how it would have occurred in pre-industrial times.”
