THE TEMPS , THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’..
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IRELAND suffered some of its worst ever weather this year – and a climate expert has warned it is set “to get progressively worse”.
Storm Emma and the Beast From The East hit in late February and early March, bringing the country to a standstill under metres of snow as temperatures plummeted to -7C.
People were stuck in their homes and businesses had to close amid the worst storms and flash flooding in 36 years.
Fast forward a few months later to June and blistering sunshine and temperatures hitting 32C toasted the West of Ireland – the hottest weather in the State since 1976.
And Maynooth geography professor John Sweeney warned the weather is likely to become even more extreme over the next few years.
He said: “It’s likely to get progressively worse. We are going to see increased frequency in extremes in the years ahead.
“We won’t see them every year, we might not have repeats of this year, but overall it will happen more frequently.
“Extremes tend to change much more frequently than do average conditions and that’s what we have been seeing over the last few years.”
He claimed it’s clear Ireland is “in the middle of a climate change event”, and cautioned over unchecked contributions to global warming.
He added: “We don’t know how far that’s going to go because it will be down to greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are a relatively small contributor to the effect in total but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t play our part.
“In many respects we should play our part more strongly as we have a much higher per capita emission than many other countries in Europe.”
He emphasised the need to “pull our weight more than we are”.
Professor Sweeney said: “We have been nominated as the worst performing climate change country in Europe so we have more of a responsibility – we are the second-highest per capita.”
He explained the importance of taking heed of research in the
MAYNOOTH YESTERDAY
area of emissions. He added: “It is starting to confirm the Arctic is heating more quickly than the rest of the globe. “The jet stream doesn’t have to blow as much as before to mix up the excess heat of the equator with the cold so that gives us the tendency for the extreme events that have been occurring.” Professor Sweeney told how the brutal weather earlier this year was down to a matter of factors rarely seen in Ireland.
He said: “The Beast From The East and Storm Emma – that very cold, snowy weather – came about as a result of a large anticyclone which developed over Siberia pushing towards the east and eventually covering us.
“That’s an event that does occur now and again but what made it more extreme was a moist air mass developing in the Bay of Biscay that collided with the cold air over Ireland. “That was a combination of events which is very rare.”
He added the amount of rainfall in June was “exceptionally low” at only 4mm – in fact the lightest for the month “in about 70 years”. Forecasts
Temperatures across West of Ireland in June were hottest since 1976
We are going to see increased disruption.. we’re in the midst of a climate change event PROFESSOR JOHN SWEENEY