THE PEOPLE of Ireland have had few things to cheer about this year, and new figures show that the weather certainly was not one of them, with 2008 being the coolest year for a decade.
Dublin had its wettest summer for 50 years, one hour of rain broke a century-long record at Shannon airport, and in some quarters August was the dullest ever, according to provisional figures from Met Éireann.
Peter Lennon, of the Met Éireann climate section, said Ireland had its second “exceptionally” wet summer in a row.
A total of 38.4mm (more than 1½ inches) of rain fell in a single hour at Shannon on August 6th as a deep depression and thundery storms caused flash flooding.
Met Éireann said the deluge was broke a 25-year record held at Kilkenny, dating back to July 17th, 1983.
In the space of an hour the rainfall amounted to almost half the average total for the month of August.
This downpour contributed to what was the wettest year on record at Shannon airport, with 1,270mm of rainfall falling, the highest amount in the station’s 63-year history.
Across the country, rainfall levels were higher than they have been in the last six to 22 years at all stations, with the majority of it falling between mid-May and mid-September.
In spite of the rain, the figures suggest May was “exceptionally” warm – it was the warmest on record at many weather stations around the country.
Mr Lennon said temperatures were half a degree above the mean average, which is based on the period between 1961 and 1990.
However, it has been the coolest recorded year overall for between seven and 14 years at weather stations across the country.
October was colder than normal and calculated temperatures for December so far indicate that the month will most likely follow suit.
Although we may not think it, the Met Éireann figures found sunshine levels to be close to average.
The strongest gust of wind for a decade, 104mph, was recorded at Malin Head on January 9th.
