West will be best for followers of the sun!

PART two of our July heatwave will see temperatures again soar into the high 20s from this morning through to the weekend and into the early days of next week.

Galway and the West again look set to record the highest temperatures in the country over that period – the summer heatwave is proving to be a massive tourism boom.

Thousands of holidaymakers have flocked into Galway city for the first week of the Arts Festival while beaches all along the Western Seaboard have been crowded over recent days.

However there are some concerns about the impact of very low water levels on fish stocks while the farm advisory body, Teagasc, have indicated that some major moisture deficits are now arising, especially with ‘shallow brown earth’ soils.

According to Met Eireann, soil moisture deficits (the amount of rain needed to return fields to their capacity water level) now stands at roughly 50mms.or two inches. We now look poised to enjoy one of our driest ever June/July periods since recent records began.

Abbeyknockmoy rainfall recorder, Brendan Geraghty, just collected 2.09 inches of rainfall in his goblet during the 30 days of June while the NUI Galway Weather Station shows only 17mms. (well under an inch) so far in July.

The NUIG Station showed that the period from Monday to Friday of last week – July 8 to 12 – was one of the hottest ever experienced in the West of Ireland. On July 9 and 12, the temperatures touched 29° Celsius while on July 8, 10 and 11, the mercury reached the 28° mark.

Since then, our temperatures have ‘slipped’ to the low 20s, but from this morning on, through to next Monday, sweltering conditions are again predicted.

For full story see this week’s Connacht Tribune