December 2015 Weather Bulletin details many all-time records

M.T. Cranium

The Met-Eireann Weather Bulletin for December 2015 has been published recently and it contains details of many new records set in rainfall, temperature and cloudiness in what was one of the mildest winter months ever recorded in Ireland and Britain.

You can read all about it here:

http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/bull1.pdf

Look for details on heaviest one-day and monthly rainfall totals, stations that had their warmest December on record (not all did) and a record low sunshine total in the southwest.

With Storms Desmond and Frank thrown into the mix, it was quite the month for weather watchers.

Over in Britain, the CET value of 9.7 C was an incredible 1.6 above the previous record set in both 1934 and 1974, and records there go back to the year 1659. You might think, well winter records would all be from the 20th century anyway, but their mildest February is 1779.

With our forecast contest relying on the airport stations and the faster reporting Monthly Summary, I don't often see the Monthly Bulletin but this one is a real eye-opener.

Harvey Normal

3.4 degrees above average LTA in Dublin (Phoenix park) and a station in cork recording 2.8 hours of sunshine for the month. Nuts