A Met Eireann forecaster has revealed how an unusual weather event has led to major temperature differences in parts of Ireland.
Meteorologist Gerry Murphy said the "breakdown stratospheric polar vortex has resulted in a blocking high to the north" leading to the west of Ireland enjoying milder temperatures compared to the cooler conditions in the east.
He explained: "This is a vortex of very cold air in the stratosphere up near the North Pole. In the spring, that breaks down and it can affect the orientation of the high pressures and the low pressures.
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"At the moment it is causing what we call a blocking high to the north which is a large area of high pressure up over northern Europe and that is sending down relatively cool air and easterly breezes over Ireland but keeping the weather dry."
Murphy explained that the breakdown usually results in wet and windy weather sweeping through the country with April showers.
He told Claire Byrne on RTE Radio One: "But this year it has produced this blocking high to the north. The air then circulates clockwise around the high, it comes down from Scandanavia over northwest Europe, over Britain and over ourselves.
"That’s why it’s cooler in the east of the country and milder in the west. But the high is dominant which means it’s keeping the weather dry."
Murphy said that the unseasonable weather may also be the result of a complex weather pattern - La Nina.
La Nina occurs every few years as a result of differences in ocean temperatures in the equatorial band of the Pacific Ocean.
Murphy said: "In such times we can find that we can have some severe flooding and landslides in eastern Australia that often occurs during La Nina situation and at the same time because all the warm water and warm air is pushed further to the west, you get droughts in Peru.
"And you also have the effects of that extending up into the northern hemisphere where you have a reduction in the Pacific hurricane season but an increase in Atlantic hurricanes."
But he said that the further north you move, the less the effects are while adding: "While the La Nina can have an effect on the weather in northern Europe. It’s only a subtle effect. So it’s difficult to say it’s having any significant effect at present.
"The most common effect of La Nina on our weather in north-western Europe is that it can lead to somewhat milder winters, especially in the earlier part of the winter and then cooler in the later part."
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