Heatwave on way with temperatures set to hit 27 degrees

A heatwave is forecast for the end of next week with potential highs of 27 degrees next weekend.

High pressure will build across the week and the temperature is expected to steadily rise.

The European Centre for Medium Range Forecasting (ECMWF) is forecasting high pressure across Ireland and Great Britain by next Friday which usually heralds a settled period of dry warm weather.

Met Éireann forecaster Gerry Murphy said temperatures this weekend would be similar to what they have been in recent days, rising to between 17 and 21 degrees with scattered showers and cloud on Saturday and Sunday.

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After that it will stay dry with temperatures rising steadily through the week.

“As high pressure builds, there is a potential for some very warm weather on Thursday, Friday or Saturday,” he said. “We could be looking at 27 degrees by next Friday or Saturday.”

He stressed that the forecast is a long way out and subject to change, but the balance of probabilities tends towards hot and dry weather.

Parts of the world have recently experienced record temperatures.

In western Canada and the north-west Pacific states of the United States scientists have suggested the extreme conditions are the result of global warming.

The temperature in Lytton, British Columbia hit 49.6 degrees at the end of last month, four degrees higher than the previous Canadian record temperature, and the town subsequently burned down in a wildfire.

Scandinavia is also going through a record-breaking heatwave.

Extreme heat is currently gripping Lapland with 34.3 degrees recorded at Banak in Norway on Monday. This is the highest temperature ever recorded north of 70 degrees in Europe.

In the southern hemisphere where it is winter, New Zealand had its hottest June on record.