Climate Change?

Our Climate

Climate can be thought of as the 'average weather' over an extended period of time and so refers to temperature, rainfall and wind. We can guess that summer will be warm, around 19 degrees Celsius and winter will be cold, around 3 degrees Celsius. By collecting weather information all around the country every hour and by analysing these records over a long period of time, typically 30 years, average values for Ireland are calculated.

Our Planet

Climate change is a significant change in the average weather or climate that a region experiences. Climate change can be caused by natural factors such as variations in sunlight intensity. However, the term climate change is now generally used to refer to changes in our climate due to the build up of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. This build up of GHGs is caused by excess emissions due to certain human activities, like burning fossil fuels for energy, transport and heating.

© Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Our Planet
© Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Our Planet

Climate change is a significant change in the average weather or climate that a region experiences. Climate change can be caused by natural factors such as variations in sunlight intensity. However, the term climate change is now generally used to refer to changes in our climate due to the build up of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. This build up of GHGs is caused by excess emissions due to certain human activities, like burning fossil fuels for energy, transport and heating.

© Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Enlarge image

This means that we can forecast the likely weather, although it is very variable. Farmers, planners and engineers need to know climate data so that they can sow the right crops, design roads, drains, buildings and bridges correctly.

This is particularly important as structures that are not correctly designed can be damaged by weather conditions, or incur extra cost if they are built for severe conditions that are unlikely to occur e.g. drains may be designed for a once in a hundred year flood, i.e. the level of flood water expected at least once in 100 year period.

For more information on climate and weather forecasting, see Met Eireann.