El Niño not going to have a major affect on Irish weather - Met Éireann

El Niño conditions don't usually have a major effect on Irish weather patterns, meteorologist Paul Moore from Met Éireann has said.

The World Meteorological Organisation declared the onset of El Niño on Tuesday 4 July, saying that these conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years.

Speaking on the back of this, Moore said that you can't attribute any of our latitudes to El Niño.

"It doesn't have a direct effect on our latitudes in general because it depends on other patterns as well, it more so affects the tropics and sub tropics," he said.

He added that what it does do is increase the overall global temperatures.

"The background warming is there anyway due to climate change but the spike upwards generally comes when we hit El Niño because it increases the temperatures in the region of the tropical Pacific and this pushes global temperatures up, 2016 was the warmest year on record which was just at the El Niño.

"This El Niño could push global temperatures up to new highs in the next year or two," he said.

July weather

Moore told the Irish Farmers Journal that there is still hopes of good weather to return towards the end of July.

"There is still a signal for later in the month for Scandinavian high pressure to redevelop. It was looking like it would come around the 10 July but now it's looking like the unsettled conditions will last a bit longer," he said.