Drought warning extended until later this week

The Status Yellow weather advisory warning for Ireland has been extended until later this week by the Irish meteorological office.

Met Eireann took the decision to update the warning – which has been in place since Saturday, June 30 – yesterday afternoon.

The warning will remain in place until 12:00pm on Friday, July 13. A further review of the situation will take place as the current warning expires.

It is expected that there may be some alleviation in drought conditions in places this week.

However, there will be little initial reduction in soil moisture deficits as evapotranspiration rates (the loss of water from the soil both by evaporation and by transpiration from plants) will remain high, Met Eireann added.

Rainfall accumulations

Over the past week, it has been almost completely dry across the entire country – apart from some patchy drizzle in the north-west and the odd shower in the south-west, the Irish meteorological office explained.

While a lot of dry weather is expected this week overall, some showery rain is forecast to occur later tonight and into tomorrow (Wednesday, July 11).

This rain may turn heavy locally in the west and north-west of the country. Total rainfall accumulations for the coming week are expected to vary between 2mm in the south and 25mm in the west, with much of the rainfall occurring tomorrow.

At the moment, soil moisture deficits are ranging between 55mm and 65mm in west Ulster and west Connacht. Elsewhere, values are running at approximately 70mm to 90mm; the east and south of Leinster have been worst hit.