Met Éireann issues nationwide drought warning until at least Friday night A large part of the country has not experienced rainfall in 13 days with warm and sunny weather conditions expected to continue into early next week.
“There was some rainfall in parts but there’s been drought up to now in the east and south east but our advisory says that will become even more widespread this week,” she told The Irish Times.
“Our charts go up to 10 days and they’re showing no change Monday through to Wednesday next week.” Ms Byrne said Met Éireann will review the drought warning over the coming days and whether it may be extended.
Tuesday is expected to be warm and dry with good sunshine with highest temperatures of 27 degrees.
Patchy cloud will develop in southern coastal areas on Tuesday night with minimum temperatures between 9 and 14 degrees.
Wednesday is forecast to be warm and dry in most areas with sunshine.
However, cloud will increase from the south and a few scattered showers will develop during the afternoon and evening, most likely in parts of Munster and Leinster.
Friday will see a return to dry, warm and mostly sunny conditions with maximum temperatures in the low to mid-20s.
Growers have had to pay more attention and are using a lot more water at the moment, which means that fruit crops will be smaller and sweeter, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday.
Grain specialist Bobby Miller said it will be September or October before some tillage farmers will know the full extent of the impact of the extreme weather conditions so far this year.