Dublin microclimates

spalpeen

Hi,

I live in dublin city but I often go to monkstown to visit my cousin.

I've often noticed when its raining in dublin its often dry in monkstown, or when there was the big freeze there was far less frost. It always seems a bit warmer and drier. Is there any data to back this up?

Danno

The Wicklow Mountains greatly affect the local weather conditions in all areas of county Dublin especially from the airport south. Add in the UHI (Urban Heat Island) effect and you have two strong influences over the local weather conditions playing different roles.

Depending on wind direction, time of year and sea temperatures in the Irish sea the above influences can enhance or pronounce weather conditions more.

There are tons of different scenarios to outline which I'm sure people locally can describe in great detail - but if it is data you are after, then there are only a handful of Met Eireann stations to glean data from - three synoptic stations and a few automatic/manual climate stations.

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058279081/dublin-microclimates

My father told me a interesting story about his father back in the day (my dad is 83 so this is going waaay back). He lived in Dalkey and had an official rain gauge for the Met Office. After a while sending in his reports in he got a visit from an meteorological officer to investigate the setting as they did not believe his readings could be correct because they were consistently lower than many other Dublin stations. They found nothing wrong. I think the Wicklow mountains and the Dalkey/Killiney hills lead to a local (drier) micro climate in the Dun Laoghaire borough area which obviously would include Monkstown.

Supercell

Just checked my very old "Climate Of Dublin" book and seems there is merit in my old mans tale after all!

Danno

St Columba's College - 1027mm

Dalkey - 662mm

Such differences over a short distance! The college is only 38m higher, so negligible height difference.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120094371#Comment_120094371

An interesting table, thanks. You're right that Dalkey stands out with the lowest rainfall by a clear margin (662mm). Next lowest are the city centre stations and Irishtown.

Almost everywhere else recorded between 700 and 800 mm. annual rainfall, except for the stations in the Dublin mountains which have >1000mm. St. Columba's is not high up but it is in the shadow of the mountains.

I think the area along the Dublin coast and down to Greystones is sheltered by the Dublin/Wicklow mountains from the prevailing south-west winds and the associated rainfall. It would be great to see a proper study of microclimates in Ireland.

I sometimes visit relatives in Skerries, and there can be a notable difference in weather. Tends to be drier out there, and milder when the icy weather affects elsewhere on the east.

Even Howth has microclimates, one side of the hill facing north and the other side south.