People are advised to ensure that elderly and vulnerable people drink enough water over the comes days, with Met Eireann issuing warnings – also for animals to have enough water to drink.
Met Éireann is forecasting highs of up to 28c this coming week, with the peak temperatures expected on Monday and Tuesday.
Last month Ireland experienced its hottest May on record when a high of 30.9C was recorded in Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, and Clonmel, Co Tipperary on 25-26 May, reports RTE.
High temperature records across much of Western Europe are likely to be broken in the coming days as the mercury is expected to continue climbing.
There was sweltering heat throughout the continent yesterday in a gruelling heatwave, with France hit particularly hard, forcing hundreds of schools to adjust their timetables to cope, reports RTE.
Forecasters warned of an “intense and long-lasting” heatwave that could see temperatures in Paris soar above 40C for the first time on a June day.
Across the continent, authorities were ramping up extreme weather warnings, with German forecasters saying parts of the country needed to be on alert for thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain over the weekend, reports RTE.
Meteorologists confirmed that England and Wales had already experienced the hottest spring ever recorded, though temperatures in Britain were not expected to be as intense as on the continent.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is amplifying such extremes, with heatwaves, droughts and floods becoming more intense and frequent, reports RTE.
The current heatwave is already the second of the year for many, meaning summer is beginning for tens of millions of Western Europeans with another spell of extreme heat.
Britain, France, Spain, Switzerland and Germany have all raised alert levels for the coming days, as have some cities in northern and central Italy, reports RTE.
The UK’s Met Office said there was a 40% chance of beating the record temperature for a June day, set in 1976.
Spain’s civil protection agency warned of a prolonged spell of extreme heat affecting most of the country and the Balearic Islands from Sunday and through much of next week, reports RTE.
Schaffhouse, a town in northern Switzerland, yesterday recorded its hottest June temperature ever at 35.7C, with the mercury expected to rise further across the country in the coming days, putting other records at risk.
With climate change, “we’re seeing more extremes of temperatures, we’re breaking records more frequently,” Alex Deakin from the UK Met Office told AFP, reports RTE.
“When you get hot spells, they’re that much hotter. And when you get rainy spells, they’re that much rainier,” he said.
France is at the heart of the current surge, with the country having just experienced its hottest spring since records began in 1900, reports RTE.
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