Last month was the warmest May in many parts of the Republic in over a century, according to Met Éireann.
Mean air temperatures at long-term stations in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, Malin Head and Birr were the highest in more than 100 years of record.
Shannon Airport recorded the highest mean monthly temperature of 14.0 degrees, its warmest since records began there in 1945 while the Valentia Observatory recorded a value 13.5 degrees, equalling its previous high.
The highest temperature during the month was 25.0 degrees recorded at Birr on May 12th.
It was also a sunnier than normal month at almost all stations, especially in the north and west, where sunshine hour totals were more than 35 per cent higher than average, Met Éireann said.
Malin head experienced the highest monthly total of sunshine hours at 265 and the highest daily total of 15.3 on May 26th, its highest daily value for the month since 1997.
Met Éireann said it was also a very dry month over much of the country, with less than half of the normal May rainfall in most places.
There were between four and 13 wet days (days with 1mm or more rainfall), during the month which is half of the normal for May in many places.
A spokesman for Met Éireann told Ireland.comthat although the figures appear to "fit neatly into the scenario global warming, you need a series of months to really prove the climate is changing".
“Occasionally a month can be the warmest on record but this does not mean the climate is getting positively warmer,” he said.
