Summer 2023 - General Discussion

fits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121056179#Comment_121056179

I thought exactly the same 😀

Elmer Blooker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121056238#Comment_121056238

What’s new? Practically every year has better weather in September than August. Last year was the first really good August for 19 years!

Of course the darker evenings and lengthening shadows take some of the good out of a fine September. There’s still heat in the sun up the equinox and the sea is at its warmest.

PokeHerKing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121056437#Comment_121056437

Agreed. Maybe it was the extra fine June or could be my holiday spacing this year but whatever the reason the past 2 months have given me SAD.

Normally I'm fairly positive re the weather and when it gets too much I head for the continent but as said, this year has been brutal. Maybe it's age.

pauldry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121054706#Comment_121054706

Nope. It's Ireland. It's true. The West is best today 22c . Sun splitting. 19c in Sligo light rain. We must be in Leinster. Or maybe the Midlands.

pauldry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121056179#Comment_121056179

My cousin Vincent is obsessed with hurricanes. We hopefully won't get that far but with El Nino it won't be the calm Winter of 22/23.

.Donegal.

Provisional figures show that summer rainfall was above average at all Met Éireann weather stations this year.

Rainfall was 144% of the long-term average for the months of June, July and August. Valentia in Co Kerry was the wettest stationfor both August and the summer overall with the recent storm betty dropping 74mm of rain - half of that amount falling in one hour.

The figurues also show that the mean summer temperature was 15.8C, which is 0.3C warmer than the summer of 2022.

Met Éireann said this summer was, provisionally, the 4th hottest in Ireland after 1995, 1976 and 2006.

June was the warmest month on record when average temperatures exceeded 16C for the first time, breaking the previous June record - set in 1940 - by more than half a degree.

In July, the mean temperatures were below average everywhere.

Some noteworthy high night-time temperatures were reached this summer.

Thirteen out of 25 weather stations recording their highest minimum night-time temperature for summer on record.

Edit - Article states June was the warmest month on record, I think that is an error and they meant June was the warmest June on record? @sryanbruen

Hooter23

Now that summer is over it has finally decided to arrive...its as bad as when spring starts winter arrives...this is our upside down backward weather and theres no point blaming climate change because this is how our weather is and always has been as far as we know 🙃

sryanbruen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121057335#Comment_121057335

Oh god, best of luck to them trying to get people to believe in that! 4th warmest on record (since 1900). In some world, I wish June did not happen so this pathetic "summer" could be put in its place.

Yes they mean the warmest June on record. The warmest month on record is still well and truly August 1995 followed by July 2013.

NIMAN

Some genuine heat in the sun today, great to see.

Love days like this in September.

appledrop

4th warmest summer on record, will Met Eireann fluck off, one of worst summers on record if they come out with statements like that no wonder you have climate deniers.

I never remember a summer so bad with hardly any 'beach' days.

Yes you can go anytime we even do in winter but a real beach day is 23+ degrees and they barely existed this summer.

I know June was nice but wasted really with all the kids still in school.

Dublin/East I think had the worst weather this summer.

Why don't they have in their statement that it rained for something like 28 out of 31 days in July!

Gonzo

How on earth are they coming up with this summer been the 4th warmest on record. What about 1976, 2013, 2018, 2022, 1995 and I'm sure i'm leaving plenty of really good summers out. June was certainly warm but July and August had relatively cool days almost throughout with only the mild nights saving the anomaly going cooler than average.

Robwindstorm

They seem to be saying June was the warmest month on record rather than the warmest June on record ? It's hard to believe it's the 4th warmest on record especially after the summer we had in Meath anyway. The only way I can see that the figures may have been massaged a bit was warmer than average nighttime values?

sryanbruen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058443#Comment_121058443

Sadly the way statistics works is like this in the case of summer 2023.

June is over 2 degrees cooler than the average July. This often brings down the summer mean down. This year, June 2023 was so ridiculously anomalous and it brought the summer "baseline" so well above any other precedent. It was a full degree warmer than any prior June on the national average.

This means it will take a serious cool July/August to bring the summer mean down. A July below average within a degree for example will not do anything as the average June will still have been a degree cooler. July 2023 was well within a degree from average (on the below side) rather than being a proper cool month. Part of this is thanks to the frequent cloudy nights and wet nature of the month - clearer nights and drier soils allow heat to be lost quicker at night. August was similar but on the above side and even stronger influence from mild nights.

Let's use Valentia's mean temps as an example as it is one of the stations that is used to calculate the national mean the 4th warmest on record refers to (Year June July August)

2023 16.4 15.3 15.9 = summer mean of 15.87C

2022 13.7 15.7 16.2 = summer mean of 15.20C

See here, June was almost 3 degrees cooler in 2022 whilst July/August were warmer in 2022 albeit not by a significant amount there due to the heavy maritime influence. June made the difference in 2023. It did all the heavy lifting. Don't forget in 2022 too, August had relatively cooler nights thanks to the above normal sunshine and clear skies as well as dry soils.

Got to say though, I'm very very surprised it is not at least 5th because I'd have 100% thought 2018 would have been warmer. That too had a very warm June and July was way warmer than 2023. August was also, whilst disappointing, far from cool.

This summer is a clear example of how statistics can be heavily skewed and they are not without issues just like people's perceptions or memories. They too can have biases. In this case, June has a significantly cooler baseline on average than the other 2 summer months so when a very warm or record-breaking June happens, it will completely skew things. This warning sign was there from the beginning but I did not anticipate 4th warmest at all. The Met will need to be very careful with their messaging on this or it will be like the Simpsons Movie outside HQ in Glasnevin with the pitchforks. Just straight up saying 4th warmest on record without context is misleading. I don't envy them in this time.

In my opinion anyway, the mean max is a much more important and useful indicator for summer than the mean temp. Would be nice if they made it more readily available.

PokeHerKing

Lies, damned lies and statistics.

appledrop

Where is this nice weather, dull and drizzly here in NCD, ah well have kids match anyway so don't want it too warm for that and hopefully will improve later on.

OldRio

Heavy showers yesterday and a dull start today.

Leitrim.

Meteorite58

Mod Note: Just to remember there is an Autumn Thread now open for more current conditions and daily discussions.

pauldry

It was the 4th warmest here. June was the hottest then July and August had no very cool weather. It rained lots but it was around 18 to 20c most times and the cooler night was an isolated 5c. Most Summers we have lots of days 14c in June and even July. This Summer it was over 20c in June every day nearly so already that's 6c above.

Also remember it was the hottest Summer on record as we headed into July. So temperature wise it was high up there. Weatherwise low down.

compsys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058229#Comment_121058229

June was around 3º above average in many places. That's huge. Mind you, everyone seemed to have forgotten that come July.

July was marginally below average.

But August had above average temps almost everywhere again. There was no heatwave but some stations were around 1º above average.

MET E is using facts and data. Whether someone got to go to the beach is irrelevant for their reports.

But yes - there were hardly any 'beach days' as it was often cloudy and rainy and windy - especially in July - but it was also consistently mild by Irish standards. Some of it was due to warm nights, which people often won't notice. But the days were mostly in the range of 18º to 22º consistently and over the course of 3 months that built up to a warm summer by our standards. Even if it won't be memorable for the right reasons.

Also, our weather is so cool anyway that even if we had the warmest summer on record it would still probably feel cold to some people unless it involved heatwaves.

But MET E has also clearly stated that it was a very wet summer too.

compsys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058443#Comment_121058443

Maybe Sryan will have the stats. But I don't believe that August had loads of cool days - in Leinster at least.

In Dublin it got to over 20º on around 14 days and most other days were around 18º or 19º.

There was no heatwave but even without the 'warm' nights it would still probably have been a normal month temp wise.

Supercell

First summer i've ever recorded June as the warmest month, I'd say that's very rare overall.

Hippodrome Song Owl

August was so windy in Dublin that even if it did reach 20C, it certainly didn't feel it. Also I found that many days were only 14-16C all day, then the temperature rose in the late evening around 8pm. So yes, 19-20C was recorded, but that is not at all representative of the day as a whole.

compsys

Yes, it was often blustery alright. But when the sun was shining it felt pleasant (for me. Everyone is different).

Given how dire July was, and with El Niño, I’d expected August to be much worse. But it was grand in the East.

NIMAN

Glorious day today up here in the far North, after a foggy start.

To be better tomorrow and Monday apparently. Perhaps no rain until Thursday!

Bring it on.

Meteorite58

Mod Note : Will close this thread for a few days so the Autumn thread gets established.

Thanks

Edit: Thread open again.

.Donegal.

The number of rain days ranged from 15 days at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin to 29 days at Newport, Co Mayo. The number of wet days* ranged from 12 days at Phoenix Park, Co Dublin to 22 days at a few stations. The number of very wet days* ranged from 1 day at a few stations to 6 days at Knock Airport, Co Mayo.

sryanbruen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058602#Comment_121058602

They're now saying it is the 5th warmest in the new provisional stats and 2018 was warmer. Knew it being warmer than 2018 sounded too crazy to be true.

gilly1910

After our little mini heatwave, it's back to normal sadly with the rain belting down here in Dublin. It was lovely while it lasted, so good to feel some heat upon your skin for a week or so after our utterly miserable Summer. Hard to believe though that unless you go abroad, it will probably be at least eight months before you get to lie in your garden, or hit the beach in Ireland.