Ireland continues to sizzle in the summer as some of the hottest days on record are being recorded.
Many visitors, especially from the US are complaining at the lack of air conditioning in most hotels and meeting places such as bars and restaurants.
Meteorologists are predicting the current heat wave in Ireland could stretch on for three weeks, with temperatures heading towards 90 degrees in places. The normal summer weather is low 70s.
Much to the delight of the Irish population, forecasters predicted a sunny outlook for the rest of the week.
“There were winners and losers yesterday, many losing out to sunshine in most parts of Leinster and in east Connacht with Cork and Ulster seeing the best of Sunday’s sunshine,” Pat Clarke of Irish weather provider Met Eireann told the Star.
“However, there will be plenty of dry and settled weather for the days ahead as high pressure continues to spread over Ireland resulting in plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures from the mid to the late 20s.”
He revealed: “Monday until Wednesday will see prolonged spells of sunshine but parts of the south-east may get cloud.
“It will range between 77 to 84 F (25-29°C) in parts of the country and will last for the rest of the week,” he added.
Clarke pointed out that Met Eireann do not specialize in long-range forecasts, but remained positive about the outlook for week ahead.
He said: “There is no signs that a break in the weather is on its way. There is no sign of low pressure so rain is not on the horizon so we can expect a good deal of dry and settled weather, certainly up until next week.”
Meanwhile Amateur forecaster Michael Gallagher who observes nature to predict weather, predicts Ireland could be basking for sunshine for at least three weeks.
“I see no signs that it’s going to change,” he told The Star.
“There’s no let-up in the dry weather and we could be in for three weeks of it just like the July back in 2006.”
Met Eireann statistics showed last month’s highest temperature was 77 F (25.4C), recorded in Newport in Mayo on Jun 8.
Also Dublin broke a 71-year long record with six consecutive days with over 14.5 hours of sunshine in June.
Each day of additional sunshine is worth €10m to Ireland's home tourism industry alone according to Irish Tourism Industry Federation CEO Eamonn McKeon.
"The sunshine gets consumer sentiment up – the good mood it creates frees up their spending. The sunshine also gets foreign tourists out of the city and traveling around the country,” McKeon told the Irish Independent.
Here's a satellite image of Ireland's clear skies from NASA:
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