Madam, - I refer to a letter in your edition of August 14th under the heading "Fears of global warming". Our former colleague, Mr Newman, always enjoyed an excellent reputation as an observer. However, I'm afraid his memory of the day he read the Mullingar temperature almost half a century ago is incorrect.
Our records show the highest temperature in Mullingar for August 1955 was 29.5° Celsius or 85.1° Fahrenheit on the 25th of the month. The highest Mullingar temperature on record is 29.8°C (or 85.6°F), still well below the figure Mr Newman quotes. - Yours, etc.,
TOM SHERIDAN, Climatology Division, Met Éireann, Glasnevin Hill, Dublin 9.