Current weather conditions - January 2017.

Pleasantly sunny now at Grange after a largely misty start. Cold all the time.

Rainfall: 0.0mm
Max. temperature: 2.1c
Min. temperature: -1.0c
Sunshine: 0.4 hours

January 2017 statistics (up to 27th)

Rainfall: 6.3mm (11% of the LTA)
Mean temperature: 5.5c (+1.0c above the LTA)
Sunshine: 60 hours (105% of the LTA)

My maximum temperature so far this January was only 11.8c on the 24th compared to 15.1c on the exact same day last year.

7 degrees in Castlebar currently, showers easing off. gentle westerly. 1007 and steady

Grange's January 2017 summary

Exceptionally dry. Rather mild and sunny.

Rainfall: Exceptionally dry, second driest January on record.
I recorded a total of 10.1mm (17% of the LTA) of rainfall during January. This made it the second driest January in my records with only 1997 drier. It may not have been THE driest January in my records but it sure was very exceptional nonetheless. I have not recorded a month with less than 15mm since September 2014. I recorded 11 wet days which was below the average of 18 wet days (days with 0.1mm or more) and was also my second lowest number of wet days in January with 1997 also recording even less. This meant that January recorded 20 dry days (days with 0mm of rainfall!). I recorded a partial drought (15 or more consecutive days with all recording 0.2mm or less) from the 13th-27th (15 days). I recorded only 0.3mm during this period. What's even more crazy was the fact that my wettest day in January was the 6th with only 3.0mm, my second lowest January maximum daily rainfall on record with again only 1997 recording an even lower one. My second wettest day was the 31st with 1.8mm, so as you can see, rainfall was very, very limited during January. January continued the period of exceptional dry months since October (October being the driest since 2007, November the driest since 2013 and December the driest since 2010). Will February continue this trend? If it does and so will the next few months after that, I could be coming into my worst drought since 2010-2011.

Temperature: Mildest January since 2012. Fairly unexceptional.
I recorded a mean temperature of 5.4c (+0.8c above the LTA) during January and it was my mildest January since 2012. The crazy dry and mild weather continued during January from December with January again being another funny month because normally in Winter when it's dry (especially like this), it's cold. Apart from the fact that it was very dry AND mild at the same time, January was unexceptional overall temperature wise. Maximum temperatures weren't far off average whilst minimum temperatures were 1-1.5c above the average but even then, still unexceptional as far more Januaries have had much more extreme temperatures. I find it funny how January 2016 was colder than January 2017 by -0.2c (January 2016 had a mean of 5.2c) yet January 2016 recorded extremes which January 2017 did not. This was down to the cold spell though back in January 2016 around the middle of the month which made January 2017 warmer than it in spite of the record-breaking temperatures on the 24th and 25th in 2016. I recorded my maximum temperature of 15.1c on the 24th in 2016 and funnily enough, I recorded my maximum temperature of 11.8c on the exact same day (the 24th) in 2017, what a coincidence! But as you can see, the maximum temperature for this January was very unexceptional. I recorded my minimum temperature of -4.1c on the 21st which was also very unexceptional. January 2016 even recorded a lower minimum of -6.1c on the 16th. January 2017 overall was very forgettable in terms of temperature but there are some coincidences that were quite funny.

Sunshine: Rather sunny, sunniest January since 2015.
For the 4th year in a row, I recorded a sunnier than normal January with 64 hours (112% of the LTA) which was quite comparable with January 2014's total of 63 hours. January 2017 was not near as sunny as 2015 or even 2016. I recorded my sunniest day on the 23rd with 6.8 hours which made it my sunniest day in January since 2010. Sunshine was evenly distributed through the month with both halves recording 32 hours of sunshine each. I recorded 6.5 hours of sunshine on the 2nd which was my highest daily sunshine for so early in the year on record. I recorded 7 dull days (days with 0 hours) which was average for January. January 2017, like temperature, was extremely forgettable sunshine wise.

January 2017 was disappointing due to how mild it was but I did enjoy it nonetheless especially given how dry it was.

I escaped much of the heavy rainfall on the 31st for some reason.