Met Éireann has issued a thunderstorm warning afternoon for a number of counties in the south of the country.
The warning applies to Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford. It is in place from 2pm on Wednesday until 7pm.
The forecaster said scattered thunderstorms will move up from the south on Wednesday afternoon, hitting many areas. It said these could be severe, with a potential for lightning and hail damage, and warned of slippy roads and impaired visibilty.
Eight counties remain under a weather warning during a spell of high temperatures that is due to come to a close in the coming days.
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Temperatures of 30.5 degrees were recorded in provisional data on Tuesday, according to Met Éireann.
Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois and Offaly were put under a yellow warning between midday on Tuesday and 6pm on Wednesday.
The forecaster said the hot weather would continue into Wednesday with top temperatures of 22 degrees to 31 degrees, hottest in the midwest and west.
It will be cooler on eastern coasts, owing to a moderate easterly breeze.
Met Éireann said its station at Shannon Airport in Co Clare logged a May highest temperature of 28.6 degrees on Monday, surpassing a 1997 record of 28.4 degrees in Co Kerry.
On Tuesday, those levels appeared to be surpassed in the early data published by the forecaster.
Met Éireann’s station at Shannon Airport reported 30.5 degrees at 3pm, provisionally a new record.
Higher temperatures were recorded in unofficial provisional observations at Met Éireann’s automatic climate stations (ACS) on both days, with Clonmel ACS recording 30.7 degrees at 2pm on Tuesday – although these figures can take longer to verify.
Met Éireann forecaster Gerry Murphy said temperatures would begin to cool in the coming days.
“Over the next 24 hours the airflow will change gradually so our weather will once again, as normal, come more from the west as we go towards the end of the week and that will mean that there will be a drop in temperature, with levels dropping to normal May levels for the bank holiday weekend of high teens and low twenties, he said.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, Murphy said the weather over the weekend will be “typical Irish weather” which would mean a mix of sunshine, clouds and some rain.
Thursday will be cloudier with the possibility of some showers in the south and west, Friday could be dry, but then rain will move in again on Saturday with a few showers on Sunday and more rain on bank holiday Monday.
“After today, we’re back to what we’d see as a typical mix of Irish weather, not as warm.”
Murphy added that it was not unusual to have “a decent spell of weather” in the month of May. But it was unusual for it to be so hot so early in the summer.
With climate change, there was a likelihood of more increased intense heat events. With the continuing high temperatures today the public is being warned to stay safe when near water.
Met Éireann has warned of water safety issues because of increased use of lakes and beaches, the possibility of forest fires and uncomfortable sleeping conditions as well as heat stress.
Linda Jean Byrne, RNLI water safety lead, told Morning Ireland that while temperatures on land may be high, water temperatures are still very cold.
“It hasn’t had time to heat up as yet. So while we might be very, very hot today, when we hit that water, there’s a very good chance of cold water shock hitting us if we hit the water too quickly,” she said.
“When you have water underneath 15 degrees, which would be well below at the moment, if you hit the water, as in if you jump straight into the water, or if you accidentally fall in the water, you have a good chance of this affecting you.
“And what happens is you get that involuntary kind of a panic and a loss of breathing control as your body gets a sudden shock of that cold water hitting it.”
Byrne advised anyone who gets into difficulty to “float to live” which was to stay calm and fight any instinct to trash around. The best thing to do was to float, try to relax and try to breathe slowly.
“Once you’ve regained control of your breathing, you can call for help by raising your hand, raising one of your hands while you’re still floating with the other hand and call for help.”
For anyone witnessing an incident where someone was in difficulty, the first thing they should do was phone 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard, before attempting any rescue themselves, said Byrne.
“The operator will dispatch any emergency assets that are needed. The emergency response units would much prefer to get the call and be on the way. And if everything resolves itself and they’re not needed, they’re happy to stand down, but have those emergency services on the way. Second of all is shout out to the person to stay calm. And again, give them those instructions to float so that they know what to do.
“Thirdly, if there’s anything near you, any rescue equipment like a buoyancy aid, a towel bag, anything, a long pole, anything that you have near you that you might be able to reach out and get that person while you’re still staying in safety on the beach or on the river bank or lake bank.” – Additional reporting: PA
