The month of July is not yet over, yet it is already shaping up to be one of the most miserable in recent years.
Some of the parts of the country have already had more than twice the monthly average rainfall and there is still three days left in the month, which, it will come as no surprise, are forecast to be wet and windy.
To date this month the weather station at Cork Airport has had 158.2mm of rain. The monthly average for July is 78.8mm.
Knock has had 154.1 mm of rain, 60 per cent above the monthly average of 95.7mm for July. Similarly, Malin Head has had 126.9mm of rain, the monthly average being 80.8mm.
All parts of the country have already surpassed their monthly average rainfall for July. Though it is going to be exceptionally wet, we have had a lot of wet July months in recent years, according to Met Éireann forecaster Harm Luijkx.
He points out that the Julys of 2007, 2008 and 2009 were also exceptionally wet. In the summer of 2007, for instance, there were 33 successive rain days in Dublin and the east of the country had 250 per cent the average rainfall for the month.
The exceptionally bad weather of recent days is distinguished only being mainly confined to the east of the country – the west is usually worst affected.
Mr Luijkx said the present spell of bad weather is prevalent all over western Europe. His native Holland had its worst July storm on record at the weekend.
The heaviest rainfall in Ireland this month fell on Sunday with 28mm at Knock Airport, 22mm at Roches Point in Cork and 19mm at Claremorris.
Unfortunately, there is no respite on the horizon between now and the end of the month. “The short answer is no,” Mr Luijkx says. “There is no indication that the weather will settle into a pattern.”
He attributes the bad weather quite simply to the usual climate variation.
Thursday will be better by recent standards with some sunshine and many places will stay dry.
Friday will see rain across the country with a few isolated showers. The west will have rain early on spreading to the east in the evening.
Saturday will be the best day of the weekend with a lot of dry weather and temperatures between 15 and 18 degrees in the afternoon.
However, it will not last. Sunday will be a miserable wet day and the unsettled conditions will continue next week and into August.
