Irish Weather Statistics

Meanwhile, in terms of days with 20c or more (up to September 15th) at Carlow (Oak Park), 2018 was also the third highest amount on record at 74 such days behind only 1995 and 1975 at 85 and 77 days respectively.



Data comes from Met Éireann.

Historical post on this event here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=107286533&postcount=610

https://twitter.com/BruenSryan/status/1042153648049008640

sryanbruen wrote: »

Cork Airport recording a maximum of 10.3c yesterday under Storm Bronagh would make it one of the coldest September days here on record (back to 1962). Top 5 coldest:

1. 26 Sep 1974 - 9.9
2. 24 Sep 1965 - 10.2
3. 28 Sep 1974 - 10.2
4. 20 Sep 2018 - 10.3
5. 30 Sep 1993 - 10.4

Amazing considering the Summer experienced just before it unlike the others here which were all cool and unsettled Summers in comparison to 2018.

22 September 2018 falls into the top 10 coldest September days for Cork Airport on record:



Data comes from Met Éireann.

Now here's the top 10 wettest and driest seasons on record using the same series. I have edited the excel file attached above and added the seasonal data in it too.





Data again comes from ICARUS and Met Éireann.

mickmackey1 wrote: »

If we look at the extreme records page -

https://www.met.ie/climate/weather-extreme-records

It says the wettest April day was in Cloone Lake (Leitrim) and the wettest September day was also in Cloone Lake, but in Kerry. Is that a typo?

It is likely to be a typo. Leitrim has two closed stations which had Cloone in its name, Cloone G.S. and Cloone (Aughnaglace House). I cannot check their data to see if they meant one of them for the Leitrim one as the historical database on met.ie is bugged right now.

November 1919 (99 years ago) recorded one of the most extraordinary cold spells in the history of the UK and Ireland. The fact the cold spell occurred in mid-November (not even the end of the month) says it all really. The November 1919 cold spell is my second favourite weather event to research or discuss about after November/December 2010 as I find it so fascinating how it could be as cold as it was then (Autumn 1919 in general was extremely intriguing, not November alone). Just goes to show how cold it can get in mid-November if the setup is there.

The pattern of November 1919 was similar to that of November 2010. There was blocking over Greenland with anomalous below average heights to the southeast of the UK driving winds in from the northeast with air coming from Scandinavia. The 500mb height anomaly reanalysis of November 1919 below shows this.



The first ten days of November were rather cold already with some overnight frost and light easterly winds at first, gradually becoming windier. The easterlies led to a lack of sunshine for many especially to the south of the UK and east of Ireland. These days were just damp, quiet and chilly.



The cold spell really took hold on the 11th (my birthday ) with northeasterlies dominating. There was plenty of snow showers. There was reports of thundersnow including for Blackpool in the northeast of England. A snowstorm occurred overnight into the 12th in Scotland as a secondary low passed within the severely cold air. Villages were cut off by the snow. There was a foot of snow (30cm) at Dartmoor, 17 inches (44cm) at Balmoral and 8 inches (20cm) at Edinburgh. At Balmoral, this snow continuously laid on the ground from the 8th to 30th November. The snow showers continued for a few days up to the 16th.



Light northeasterly winds and pressure rising led to bitterly cold temperatures being recorded. The snow cover acted as an excellent insulator in further dropping the temperatures to abnormally cold levels for mid-November (probably unprecedented) especially over Scotland. Braemar got down to a whopping -23.3c on November 14th! That is an exceptionally low temperature in the middle of Winter, never mind mid-November. This is the November record low temperature for the UK to the present day when writing this. November 14th 1919 is the earliest a minimum temperature of -20c (AND -15c!) has been recorded in the UK. This is such a phenomenal figure in many ways as you can see. On the same day, Perth got down to -21.7c. Balmoral recorded afternoon maximum temperatures of -10c on the 14th and -12c on the 15th. The temperature fell again to -22.8c on November 15th at Balmoral, the second earliest -15c/-20c temperature in the UK and the second lowest November temperature on record. The maximum at Carlisle, Cumbria in England on November 14th was only -2.7c whilst England's lowest minimum was -12.8c at Scaleby on the 16th. Lisburn in Northern Ireland recorded a minimum of -12.2c on November 15th, Northern Ireland's November record low to this day. 2010 got close at -11.9c on the 28th but not quite beating the 1919 record.



After the 17th, the weather turned more changeable with day to day variation of mild and cold. There were further instances of snow, sleet and hail from the 20th-23rd. Was the extraordinary cold going to become a distant memory or would Winter 1919-20 continue the cold? Winter 1919-20 was unsettled and mild so the November cold was to become the coldest weather of the whole season.



Lowest minimum temperatures of November 1919 for various Irish stations (via the UK Met Office monthly weather report).

Station|County|Minimum temperature|Date(s)
Markree Castle|Sligo|-11.1*|14th
Blacksod Pt.|Mayo|-1.7|14th/15th
Mallarany|Mayo|-1.7|13th/15th/30th
Dunfanaghy|Donegal|-3.9|14th
Malin Head|Donegal|-1.1|14th/15th
Lisburn|Antrim|-12.2|15th
Donaghadee|Down|-1.7|17th
Armagh Observatory|Armagh|-8.3|15th
Newtownforbes|Longford|-8.3|15th
Dublin City|Dublin|-3.9|15th/30th
Glasnevin|Dublin|-6.1|15th/16th/30th
Phoenix Park|Dublin|-9.4|15th
Trinity College|Dublin|-6.7|15th
Ranelagh|Dublin|-5.6|16th/30th
Newcastle|Wicklow|-2.2|9th/16th
Birr Castle|Offaly|-9.4|14th/15th/16th
Mountmellick|Laois|-6.7|14th
Kilkenny|Kilkenny|-8.9|12th
Gortmore|Waterford|-5.6|12th
Training College|Waterford|-7.2|12th
Seskin, Carrick-on-Suir|Waterford|-4.4|11th/13th/15th
Cahir|Tipperary|-9.4|12th
Foynes|Limerick|-5.6|15th
Mungret College|Limerick|-10.6|15th
Killarney|Kerry|-6.7|15th
Valentia Observatory|Kerry|-4.4|12th
Ballinacurra|Cork|-6.7|12th
Roches Point|Cork|-2.2|12th/13th


*The -11.1c temperature at Markree Castle on November 14th 1919 was the record low November minimum temperature for the Republic of Ireland until 2010 when it was beaten at -11.5c by Clonroche, Co. Wexford.

At a CET of 3.3c, November 1919 was the equal 7th coldest on record back to 1659. Just 4 years before, November 1915 was the second coldest on record with a CET of 2.8c (the coldest being 1782 at 2.3c). The coldest CET we've seen since 1970 was November 1985 at 4.1c in comparison. November 1915 was persistently cold and frosty whilst November 1919 had an extreme cold spell but was moderated later.







Data comes from the UK Met Office.

Now here's the maximum wind gusts (knots) for selected Irish stations for the named storms of 2016-17. Did not include Storm Angus as it did not impact Ireland. Again, you'll find the dates to each of the storms in the second image if you do not know them.

Thanks to Kevin Bradshaw (aka Mr. Data) for letting me know about this. May-July 2018 was a record breaker in terms of sunshine totals for NW England & N. Wales back to 1929. It recorded a total of 763.8 hrs which beats the previous record of 704.3 hrs in 1989.

This total also beats the sunniest Summer (June-August) on record for the areas which was 1976 with 681.5 hrs. Extraordinary stats I have to say.



Maximum temperatures are another standout for that period in NW England & N. Wales.

May 2018: 17.3°C 2nd warmest ever May

June 2018: 20.3°C 2nd warmest ever June

July 2018: 22.3°C 3rd warmest ever July

The maximum temperature for May to July 2018 average at just under 20.0°C. They were only 5 "summers" (again June to August) since 1929 warmer than this in terms of maximum temperatures.

Last but not least, rainfall totals are interesting, only summers 1976 and 1995 were drier than May to July 2018 for summers since 1929 in NW England & N. Wales.

A real historical period of weather May to July 2018 was for the regions named.

Data originally comes from the UK Met Office.