Summer 2025 Breaks Irish Heat Record

Ireland’s summer of 2025 has been confirmed as the warmest on record, with night-time temperatures made 40 times more likely by human-caused climate change, a new study by Met Éireann and Maynooth University shows.

The first high-temperature seasonal climate attribution study for Ireland, carried out under the WASITUS project, found the mean summer temperature of 16.19°C, breaking the previous record of 16.11°C set in 1995. While daytime highs were not as extreme as in previous record summers in 1976 and 1995, unusually warm nights pushed the seasonal average to a record level.

The study shows average summer minimum temperatures in 2025, which would have been expected once every 600 years in a pre-industrial climate, are now a 1-in-15-year event. Average maximum temperatures are nine times more likely than in pre-industrial conditions.

Climatologists warn that as global temperatures rise, heat extremes will become more frequent, storms more intense, and rainfall patterns increasingly erratic.

Paul Moore of Met Éireann said that background warming from climate change can transform an otherwise average season into a record warm season.

Dr Pádraig Flattery added that what was once a 600-year night-time heat event is on course to become commonplace if global warming continues.

Dr Claire Bergin of Maynooth University highlighted the implications for homes, saying most houses in Ireland are not built with these rising temperatures in mind and adaptation is essential.

The full study is available here.