Irish Weather Statistics

June 2014 was a largely anticyclonic, warm and sunny month with a notable dry spell during the middle period from the 11th to the 24th. During this period, particularly in the second half, it became very sunny for parts. Valentia Observatory had a monthly sunshine total of 266 hours of sunshine which made it the sunniest June at the station since 1940 and its second sunniest on record. This was 164% of its average June sunshine with an average of 8.76 hours of sunshine per day. You can see Valentia Observatory's June 2014 daily sunshine totals in the graph below. Note the number of days with at least 10 hours of sun here. Normally, this station is one of the dullest stations and is the wettest in Ireland but in fact, it was the sunniest out of the whole country in June 2014. This was as strange as the station holding the all-time Irish monthly sunshine total record in July 1955.



The 17th/18th June 2014 were very warm for places bringing the warmest June temperatures since 2009. An area of high pressure of up to 1034hPa was centred to the northwest bringing in a north to northeast flow which brought cloud to much of the UK whilst Ireland was on the edge of the cloud. However, tropical continental air attempted to come from the southeast and this brought the warmest conditions of the year so far up to that point, soon to be beaten in July. Craggaunowen, Co Clare had an air maximum of 27.6c on the 17th with 27.1c at Newport, Co. Mayo on the same day. The UK's maximum was 27.0c at Cupar on the 18th so Ireland had a higher maximum than the UK this month. Not surprisingly, both of these days were the sunniest of the month at the majority of the stations including a daily sunshine total recording of 15.8 hours at Belmullet on the 17th which was the station's sunniest June day since 1995 and for Ireland since 2010. This was not a heatwave as the criteria was not reached - 5 consecutive days of maximum temperatures of at least 25c or above, but no doubt the newspapers were trending with the word heatwave during this warm spell. Of course, these days were during the Leaving Cert examinations which ended on 20th June that year so some students didn't fully get to enjoy the marvellous weather. Fortunately, the rest of June and parts of July were to deliver further fantastic weather.

Here are maps (by Met Éireann) showing maximum temperature recordings at Irish stations on both days. I know some of them can be hard to make out.





I went to the beach on June 18th 2014 soaking up the sun and it was the last time for me to do so because we've been lacking days of blue skies and high temperatures since here in Ireland. Summer 2016 had several instances of high temperatures but not much blue skies whilst June 2017 had a spell from the 17th-20th that had both for here and I could have went but I just didn't. I do not know why. If we do get a nice spell like this one in June 2014 this Summer, I must make the most of it. At the end of June 2014 into July, I was one of the specially chosen people in my youth club to partake in an event called Integration Week. In this event, there would be specially chosen teens from several youth clubs who would all meetup at different places like St Monica's Youth Centre, Irishtown Stadium, Donnycarney Youth Centre and the ALSAA Complex. We would do all sorts of sports and end the week with a visit to Zipit Forest Adventures, Tibradden Woods. The weather was perfect for the week. On 30th June, it was blue skies and 22c. On 1st July, it was blue skies again with 24c. 2nd July started off very sunny and clouds gradually increased but stayed mostly sunny and 22c. 3rd July had sunny spells and showers but still warm at 21c. What a great week that was complimented by the weather! I loved Summer 2014 even if August was poor and personally prefer it over Summer 2013. Anyway, I just wanted to give some of my own recollection here on experiencing the great weather of the period.

The IMT for June 2014 was 14.6c which was +0.9c above the 1981-2010 average whilst the CET was 15.1c which was +1.0c above the 1961-90 average.

UKMO fax chart reanalysis for 17 June 2014.



Professor Trevor Harley's description for June 2014:

June Quite warm and dry, and the sunniest since 2010. The highest temperature was 26.5C at Strathallan (Perthshire) on the 18th; the coldest 1.0C at Laka Bala early on the 6th. Total rain was 50.1 mm (75% average). The highest rainfall of the month was the 28th, when 57.0 mm fell at Boughton-under-Blean in Kent in a five-hour thunderstorm. It was wetter than average in parts of east Scotland, and wetter in the SW. England and Wales sunshine was 227 hours (117 hours). Lerwick only saw 68 hours (lower than in March, April, or May).

*The Lerwick sunshine total was its lowest for June on record.

"Ireland's heatwave rivals Rio and surpasses Med temperatures"

https://www.independent.ie/weather/irelands-heatwave-rivals-rio-and-surpasses-med-temperatures-30362191.html

Photos from June 2014, some are of the UK, some are of Ireland.





Courtesy of Kieran Commins, rows of ‘Cailleach dhearg’ or the common poppy covered a small nature park near Nurney, Co Kildare in late June. Poppies, a wildflower which bloom between June and September are known as the international symbol of respect for those who lost their lives during both World Wars. The association stems from the growth of poppies in-between the trenches and No Man’s Land on the Western Front during World War One.







Sources

http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/clim-2014-Jun.pdf
http://www.met.ie/UserMediaUpl/file/June_14_lowres.pdf
http://www.trevorharley.com/weather_web_pages/2014_weather.htm
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2014/june

I mentioned yesterday being the most impressive April storm or windy spell since Easter Monday 2010 (5th April).

What happened this day was that an area of low pressure centred to the northwest of Ireland with a minimum pressure of around 967hPa on the midnight of the 6th. Winds associated with it were of a strong southwesterly direction bringing the windiest April conditions since 2004 at this time. Belmullet reached a maximum wind gust of 75 knots (86 mph OR 139 km/hr) at 13:53 on the 5th April 2010. Unusually, this was the highest wind gust of the entire year of 2010, even the 11 November windy spell (which was my 10th birthday ) did not beat it. Other places had maximum wind gusts generally in the 40-50 knot range on this day. 2010 was the calmest year on record for parts with record breaking low mean wind speeds between 6 and 10 knots - another reason why I adore 2010!

It wasn't just about the wind as there was heavy rainfall associated with this low pressure with falls of more than 20mm on both the 5th and 6th in localised places. Valentia Observatory had 26.6mm of rain on the 5th whilst Ballyhaise had 27.2mm of rain on the 6th.



This storm was important for building up a long dry and sunny spell for us though during April 2010. By the 8th, high pressure approached from the south of around 1035hPa which stuck around us all the way to the 23rd with little to no parts having any rainfall at all throughout this period. Daytime temperatures were between low to mid teens mostly but getting up to 20c on the 10th and 11th in completely blue skies. Fantastic Spring weather! I'll remind here that April 2010 holds the Irish station monthly sunshine total record with Sherkin Island having 247.7 hours of sun during this month, 140% of its average April sunshine with an average of 8.26 hours of sun per day!

Remember this (for those that don't know obviously) as a lesson to learn, a storm could be a good sign for dry weather as shown in months such as April 2010, September 2014 and now April 2018 (at least for some days).



Data comes from Met Éireann.

According to P.K. Rohan's book from 1986 'Climate of Ireland', Coolgreany of Co. Antrim was completely rainless for the entire month of August 1947.

Every ice day (temperature does not get above 0c all day) Birr has recorded since its records began in 1954. Beware that the station closed in 2009 so has not been recording since.

Date|Maximum Temperature|Minimum Temperature
30 Jan 2006|-0.4|-6.7
30 Dec 2000|-0.9|-3.3
29 Dec 2000|-1.1|-7.8
7 Feb 1991|-0.5|-4.2
13 Jan 1987|-3.5|-8.4
12 Jan 1987|-1.6|-6.8
18 Jan 1985|-0.8|-8.9
17 Jan 1985|-0.3|-7.0
19 Jan 1984|-0.1|-7.2
12 Jan 1982|-1.4|-14.6
11 Jan 1982|-1.0|-8.7
10 Jan 1982|-1.7|-7.1
9 Jan 1982|-1.1|-3.7
15 Feb 1979|-0.2|-5.8
1 Jan 1979|-0.4|-11.6
31 Dec 1978|-0.6|-8.8
12 Jan 1977|-0.7|-7.0
11 Jan 1977|-0.2|-2.2
17 Jan 1973|-1.1|-6.5
5 Jan 1972|-0.3|-4.9
9 Dec 1970|-1.4|-4.2
13 Jan 1963|-3.6|-11.6
12 Jan 1963|-1.9|-8.8
3 Jan 1962|-0.6|-7.1
2 Jan 1962|-1.7|-7.7
13 Jan 1959|-1.6|-6.1
1 Feb 1956|-0.1|-4.3


Data comes from Met Éireann.

mickmackey1 wrote: »

What was the lowest max ice day anywhere Syran?

-9.8c at Cavan (Loreto College) on December 21st 2010.

For today's historical post, I'm doing something to fit the theme of today and that was the extraordinary heat of April 1949 in the UK, it wasn't all that remarkable in Ireland at all - 1984 was our version of 1949. The Easter period of 1949 (15th-18th April) was the warmest on record with a CET of 14.5c. The second warmest in comparison was 2011 (22nd-25th April) which had a CET of 14.3c. Easter Saturday 1949 (16th April) recorded an air maximum temperature of 29.4c at Camden Square in London and this is the all-time UK April maximum temperature record to this day.

The setup for the period was very similar to that here in April 2018, coming off the back of a rather cold March in 1949 but not exceptionally so though February that year was mild unlike 2018. High pressure built to the east of Britain on Good Friday 1949 (15th April) drawing up very warm air from north Africa. In the strong Spring sunshine, temperatures soared with maxima of 20c or more across the majority of England and Wales, high teens for Scotland and mid teens for Ireland.

Good Friday 1949 temperature recordings at the following stations were their highest temperatures seen during the month.

Station|Maximum temperature
Manchester|23.3
Ross-on-Wye|23.9
Plymouth|21.7
Dublin Airport|17.6


Temperatures continued to go up on Easter Saturday in the southeast of England though and the April record was set. Other examples of temperature recordings on this day:

Station|Maximum temperature
London|28.9
Nottingham|24.4
Birmingham|23.9
Dunstable|26.7






A cold front swept through the British Isles during Saturday night with a few showers and thunderstorms in the northeast of England. Therefore, temperatures dropped on Easter Sunday but still above average. For example, Whitstable had a maximum of 27.8c. Easter Monday was another warm day especially in the east of England.

Data comes from UK Met Office and Met Éireann.

Artane2002 wrote: »

Sorry if this was answered already but what was the warmest upper temp recorded in Ireland? I'm going to assume -16c in Jan 1987 was the lowest.

Unsure sorry because usually our highest temperatures in Ireland are as a result of a sustained area of high pressure bringing blue skies unlike the UK which is mainly courtesy of southerly flows. In these sustained areas of high pressure, the upper air temperatures tend to not be record breakingly high as they do with southerly flows in the UK. Low pressure normally does be over Ireland whilst a southerly flow is taking place. Therefore, it's a tricky thing to find out.

Artane2002 wrote: »

Something similar happens in winter too I believe. Dec 2010 didn't have exceptionally low uppers but it had the lowest max recorded. Even the end of November 2016 had some very low max temperatures but the uppers weren't overly low. There was high pressure over us at the time I think. November 2016 was a brilliant month!

That's correct, the coldest of upper air temperatures come from easterlies, examples include which I have posted the charts of on here before: Feb/Mar 2018, Feb 1991, Jan 1987, Feb 1956.

What allowed the extremely low temperatures in Nov/Dec 2010 was the snow that fell and lied under the clear skies and lack of wind. The lying snow acted as an insulator for the cold to become severe. Why you did not see exceptionally low temperatures (at least at night) i.e. below -10c in 2018, 1987 etc was because of the cloud.

Yes, November 2016 was fantastic and Autumn 2016 in general was. Give me a November like 2016 any day. Very sunny and cold, perfect.

Artane2002 wrote: »

Autumn 2016 was the perfect Autumn. September had a hot spell at the start with a lot of sun (too hot for my liking), October was very benign and November was cold, sunny and it even snowed on one of the days. This is the perfect autumn combination for me.

Autumn 2016 was a tier below 2010 to me in perfection.

Let me name some highlights from Autumn 2010 of why:

- Sunniest on record

- First 3 days of September 2010 were very sunny and warm. Temperatures up to 22c and completely blue skies. It was magnificent back to school weather. I remember it very well. I was in St. Anne's Park on 30th August and it was 19c but completely blue skies. The night was cold getting down to low single figures which made for excellent sleeping.





- 5 to 7 September brought an active system northwards producing very heavy rain in places. Knock Airport had a daily rainfall of 86.5mm on the 6th! Yes, you read that right, nearly 90mm. I remember it drenching out of the heavens on this day. I could not go out for break in school and listening to the rain bashing against the windows. I loved the extreme rain following the lovely week of 29 August to 3 September which had blue skies and pleasant temperatures.



September had plenty of lovely sunny days in Dublin including another great settled sunny period from the 24th-27th with some notably cool nights developing. You would have loved the 14th September 2010 in particular, mid teen temperature, blue skies, fair breeze! I really do vividly remember these days and NEVER will forget them. 2010, I will adore and treasure til the day I die.

- Mid October 2010 brought a long settled spell from the 8th to the 21st with some days being very sunny. The 11th stands out to me because a lot of good things happened to me, it was 20c and completely blue skies! The 11 October 2010 remains my favourite day of my life.



- November 2010 was very sunny with an exceptionally cold and snowy end. The 27th/28th November remain my favourite snow days I've experienced. Little to no wind. Blue skies. Snow showers. Maximums and minimums below freezing. I was in love with the weather! Here's a picture by katzenjammer in Phoenix Park on 28 November 2010 to perfectly capture the fantastic (understatement) weather of this period!



Plenty more beautiful (again understatement) pics of the period here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056102480&page=7

Bring back to 2010 days, please.