THE NEXT FEW days are set to be hot again as Ireland’s extended heatwave continues. However, there will be some scattered showers over the coming days, along with breezy conditions.

Ireland is in the midst of a historic heatwave with record-breaking temperatures and sunshine being a feature of the country over the last few weeks.

Met Éireann has said that today will be mostly dry with hazy sunshine, however, it will be somewhat cloudy in the north and northwest.

There will be a risk of isolated showers in the afternoon and evening. Top temperatures will range between 22 to 25 degrees but will be slightly cooler in the north and northwest, with top temperatures ranging between 18 to 21 degrees.

Cloud is set to thicken in the north tonight, with showery rain affecting the region. Further south will stay mostly dry and light north to northeasterly winds will persist.

Met Éireann said it will be rather mild and humid tonight with temperatures dropping to between 12 and 16 degrees, with patches of mist forming towards the morning.

Tomorrow is expected to start off cloudy with showery rain in the northern half of the country. Elsewhere, there is set to be bright and sunny spells, with scattered showers.

Again, it will be cooler in the northern half of the country with top temperatures of 17 to 20 degrees, but over Munster and south Leinster top temperatures will range between 21 and 23 degrees.

Met Éireann has said that there will be some showers for the rest of the week. Dry and warm periods are expected, but the forecaster said it won’t be as hot or dry as recent weeks.

Water shortages

A nationwide hosepipe ban came into effect last Friday until Tuesday 31 July, as a result of the continued dry weather.

Irish Water has now warned that unless the level of water demand can be reduced significantly, water supplies may be at risk of significant restrictions or outages until the end of the year.

The average demand for water in the public water supply nationally this year has been 1,650 megalitres per day.

Over the 10 days prior to the National Water Conservation Order being issued, Irish Water said the demand for water nationally increased by an average of 15% to 1,900 megalitres per day.

“This quantity of water is above the sustainable water supply volume for the majority of Irish Water’s existing sites and large-scale water restrictions and outages are inevitable if demand is not reduced through voluntary reductions or restrictions in water usage,” Irish Water said.

This level of demand is unsustainable, even in the short-term, and unless it can be reduced significantly water supplies may be at risk of significant restrictions or outages until the end of the year.

Irish Water said it will monitor and collate data on national demand over the coming weeks to assess the impact of the National Water Conservation Order, which came into effect on Friday.

“Irish Water is continuing to appeal to businesses, homes and farms to conserve water in order to avoid further restrictions in affected areas or potential outages in other areas.”