Our changing climate

Warming of the climate is unequivocal, as is now evident from measurement of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea levels. This warming is having a knock-on effect on rainfall amounts, wind speeds and ocean levels.

Ireland’s climate, even in the last 20 years, has seen a noticeable change in temperatures. This graph shows that Ireland’s mean temperature went up by 0.7°C between 1890 and 2004, with one of the consequences being higher rainfall recorded in the west, south-west and north of the country.
 

Mean annual air temperature index, 1890 – 2004
(Source: McElwain & Sweeney, 2007)

This detailed graph shows that average temperatures in Ireland in recent decades were noticably higher in line with changes in global temperatures.

Six of Ireland’s warmest years on record have occurred since 1990, with 1997 the hottest, while in the last three decades, showed an increase in temperature of 0.42°C per decade, compared with an increase of 0.23°C per decade between 1910 and 1949.

If climate change continues at this pace, increased global temperatures will result in dangerous and irreversible impacts on our planet. The challenge for us all, in Ireland and elsewhere, is limiting and adapting to climate change.