Last month was the second warmest March globally since records began.
In Europe, it was the hottest on record, according to the EU Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Locally, it was the warmest March in Kilkenny since 2017, with temperatures being roughly 1.5 degrees above average throughout the month.
Speaking to KCLR News, Niall Dollard of Kilkenny Weather said that soil moisture levels would be a concern going forward.
“The concern is now that its so dry, the rainfall in March was our driest locally in Kilkenny since 2011, with only 19.5mm of rain, so the concern now is soil moisture deficits are huge.”
“It’s a step change, each year gets that little bit warmer, the droughts get that little bit longer, so I suppose that’s the worry, that we’re leading ourselves into a situation that we can’t get back from.”
