AUGUST WAS WARMER, drier and sunnier than normal with record breaking monthly temperatures recorded across the country.

Met Éireann’s monthly report for August shows that temperatures were above average across Ireland and record daily temperatures for August were reported at 11 weather stations.

Air temperatures were above their long-term average across the country as nearly half of Met Éireann’s 25 weather stations broke their August maximum temperature records.

The month’s highest temperature was first reported on Saturday 13 at the climate station in Durrow, Co Laois, where 32.1 °C was recorded. This reading is provisionally the highest ever August maximum temperature for Ireland. 

Moore Park station in Co Cork also broke its all-time maximum temperature record when the mercury climbed to 30.6°C on 13 August.

These are the stations, how long the records had stood for and the temperatures they reached:

• Oak Park, Co Carlow, – 31.7 °C (length 18 years)
• Shannon Airport, Co Clare, – 30.0 °C (length 76 years)
• Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon, – 29.2 °C (length seven years)
• Gurteen, Co Tipperary, – 28.9 °C (length 14 years)
• Athenry, Co Galway, – 28.5 °C (length 12 years)
• Newport, Co Mayo, – 28.5 °C (length 62 years)
• Cork Airport, Co Cork, – 28.3 °C ( length 60 years)
• Markree, Co Sligo, – 28.3 °C (length 17 years)
• Mace Head, Co Galway, – 27.4 °C (length 18 years)
• Finner, Co Donegal, – 26.5 °C (length 11 years)
• Moore Park, Co Cork, – 30.6°C (all time record – length 35 years)

It comes after nine of Met Éireann’s weather stations across the country recorded their hottest temperatures ever on the same day in July.

The high pressure that led to record temperatures in July continued in August, resulting in a lot of very warm and sunny weather.

By the end of the first week of the month, high pressure controlled the meteorological situation, bringing mainly dry conditions with a lot of sunshine.

This continued into the second week as high pressure stretched between the Azores, in the mid-Atlantic, and Scandinavia, resulting in calm and sunny conditions.

This atmospheric pressure culminated in heatwave conditions at a number of Ireland’s weather stations and record high maximum daily temperatures for August.

It climaxed in thunderstorms in the middle of the month as low pressure pushed in from the south and west, resulting in intense rain in some areas and flash flooding in places.

Showers and rainfall became more common throughout the rest of the month but sunny conditions were still frequent, particularly in the final week of August.

Rainfall

Over the course of the month, rainfall was below its long-term average across the country and was lowest in the midlands, south and east.

The weather station at Roche’s Point, Co Cork, recorded its driest August on record (dating back length 18 years), reaching just 14% of its monthly rainfall values.

It was the driest August since 1995 at Markree, Co Sligo, Dunsany, Co Meath, and Cork Airport. It was the driest August since 2003 at Phoenix Park, Co Dublin, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Malin Head, Co Donegal and Casement, Co Dublin.

The Phoenix Park station recorded the fewest rain days with nine. The highest number of rain days was 19, recorded at both Malin Head, Co Donegal, and Knock Airport, Co Mayo.

The UN’s IPCC has said that global warming has caused an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events.

The world has already warmed by about 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times due to human activity, and the IPCC has warned that global heating is virtually certain to pass 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, probably within a decade.