Global warming melts hopes of a white Christmas in Ireland
A leading climatologist has some bad news for snow-lovers
Nick Bramhill
The prospect of Ireland waking up to a white Christmas is becoming more and more unlikely every year, according to a leading climatologist.
Prof John Sweeney said that Ireland can expect increasingly warmer winters due to global warming, resulting in less snowfall in the traditionally coldest months of the year.
And even though some forecasters have already predicted that we will shiver from next month as a bitterly cold winter season sets in, the NUI Maynooth-based academic warned that the days of the country being covered in a blanket of snow on December 25 are numbered.
A little girl playing in the snow for the first time (Image: LNP)
He said: "The projections are for Ireland to warm by 1C by mid-Century, and we're looking at both warmer summers and winters.
"We'll always get snow in the uplands and mountains, but we'll start to see less snow in the lowland areas in the coming years, and that means we'll get fewer and fewer white Christmases. Let's put it this way, if I were a betting man I wouldn't be putting any money on there being snowfall on Christmas Day. It's getting less likely each year."
Prof. Sweeney also warned that more extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent in the future, such as Hurricane Ophelia which ripped a trail of destruction through Ireland last month, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and three dead.
He said: "In 2017 we have seen the continued trend towards more climate extremes. And before that we had other indications, like the wettest winter on record two years ago, and the stormiest winter three years ago.
"These more extreme rainfall and flooding events are happening because the amount of energy in the atmosphere is increasing due to the transmission of heat from the warmer land and ocean below."
Snow across the country
Prof. Sweeney also predicted that future winters in the west of Ireland will be wetter, whilst summers in the eastern part of the country will become drier.
And he said that in a matter of just a few years' time, incidences of frost in coastal areas of Ireland could disappear altogether.
Meanwhile, Prof Sweeney praised the recent Citizens' Assembly vote, which backed 13 key recommendations for climate change action.
He said: "The government has been given a mandate to deliver on these recommendations and they would be unwise to ignore them. Up to now the politicians have not taken climate change seriously enough, but I hope these proposals will now be implemented."
Last week the World Meteorological Organisation said it expected 2017 to turn out to be one of the hottest years on record, with temperatures more than 1C above pre-industrial levels.
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