The last summer of the old Millennium got off to a sultry start yesterday with temperatures more typical of mid-July than the first day of June.
But forecasters said the temperatures, which hovered around the 20s in some parts of the State, were no indication that the rest of the summer would follow suit.
A stretch of humid days with a possible threat of rain and thunderstorms in places is expected before the bank holiday weekend according to Mr Pat Clarke of Met Eireann. The recent warm spell had travelled from Spain, he said.
As the hazy sunshine prompted people to abandon woollies in favour of sun-worshipping apparel there were some words of warning from the Met. The sunburn index was high enough to burn average skin after 30 minutes and sensitive skin in half that time, according to Mr Clarke. "We would urge people to be cautious," he said.
Figures from the agency show that there has only been one "very good" summer this decade - 1995 - the best since the turn of the last century. It scored an impressive 445 on Poulter's Summer In- dex, a system of points assigned to each summer, allowing us to compare them from year to year.
English meteorologist R.M. Poulter created the index in 1962 spurred on, no doubt, by the British and Irish obsession with weather. The formula is based on the mean temperature, rainfall and sunshine during June, July and August. The resulting figure indicates how good (or ghastly) that summer was.
For the record, the summer of 1998 was a below average 337 while the year before was only slightly better at 347. The situation was even worse in the 1980s with the summer of 1985 plummeting in the midlands to a miserable 249 on Poulter's Index.
Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence available that points to this summer being a scorcher. Figures released this week by Met Eireann do show that although dull, this spring was the warmest for almost 40 years.
The uninspiring summers of recent years have been good news for the State's travel agents who are experiencing an increase in the numbers booking in advance for sun holidays.
Holidaymakers are now less confident they can depend on weather conditions and many book up to six months in advance, according to Ms Niamh Hayes, marketing manager of Budget Travel. "The weather is definitely a factor. People want guaranteed sunshine and from the knowledge of past summers they know that it is unlikely they will experience it here," she said.
One experienced weather observer said that while one swallow did not make a summer the signs were good as the feathered migrants had appeared a few weeks earlier than usual. Sounding an optimistic note he added that the appearance of jellyfish in the sea "good and early" also indicated that this could be a summer worth staying home for.