Summer temperatures are climbing at a rapid pace. Image: Shutterstock/Alex Erwin Summer temperatures are climbing at a rapid pace. Image: Shutterstock/Alex Erwin BY THE YEAR 2040, temperatures experienced during the recent spell of hot weather will be considered “a cool summer”, according to an Irish climate analysis centre.
Meanwhile, temperatures have soared one again across Europe in recent days with countries like Germany and Belgium breaking national records – by up to 3C in some parts. Peter Thorne, Director at the Maynooth-based Irish Climate Analysis and Research Unit, explained that the latest trend in severe weather events suggests that by the year 2040, a summer like 2019 would be considered “a cool summer”.
That pattern will continue, and what it means is we’re incrementally changing the odds in favour of rolling a six for a hot summer, if we think about it in terms of rolling a dice. “We’re increasingly likely to keep rolling a six,” he added. He explained that the average temperatures are likely to increase by around a quarter decade-on-decade, meaning by the end of the century the average temperatures will have increased several degrees.
“In the coming decade, summers will see temperatures a quarter or so higher than normal but if we get a hot summer, and land dries out, that will feel higher again.