Warmest Christmas Eve on record in NI
The unseasonably mild conditions are striking given that the average temperature for Christmas Eve is normally about 7.5C
- Published
Christmas Eve 2024 has become the warmest on record for Northern Ireland.
Temperatures provisionally reached 14.3C at Magilligan on the north coast on Tuesday afternoon.
That surpasses the 13.9C record set in Armagh 82 years ago, in 1942.
The unseasonably mild conditions are striking given that the average temperature for Christmas Eve is normally about 7.5C.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
According to Climate Central, a US-based nonprofit group, climate change has made these temperatures at least five times more likely.
Kristina Dahl is the vice president for science at Climate Central.
"The unusually warm temperatures in the UK and Ireland over the Christmas holiday bear the clear fingerprints of climate change and are the latest indication that winters in the region are warming," she said.
"The UK is already experiencing an additional 11 days per year above freezing due to climate change, and we expect that trend to continue as long as we continue burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas."
The warmest Christmas Day on record for Northern Ireland was in Belfast in 2016, when a temperature of 14.8C was recorded, external.
Although thermometers are not expected to climb that high this year, temperatures will not be far off that, with highs around 13C expected.
Related topics
- Published4 days ago
- Published17 December
