IT MAY NOT have felt like it in Ireland, but last month was officially the warmest May since records began.
US scientists say that the average temperature across the planet was 15.5 degrees Celsius, almost one degree above the average in the month of May for the 20th century.
“The majority of the world experienced warmer-than-average monthly temperatures, with record warmth across eastern Kazakhastan, parts of Indonesia, and central and northwestern Australia,” said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Met Éireann’s summary of May in Ireland is slightly less balmy: it describes May as being ‘dull throughout’ and ‘wet and warm nearly everywhere’.
However despite this, temperatures were still higher than average in Ireland too: they ranged from an average of 10.6 degrees Celsius at Knock Airport to an average of 12.1 degrees at Shannon Airport, making it the warmest May for six years in some parts of the country.
The highest temperature in Ireland was 22.3 degrees at Shannon Airprt towards the end of the month, while the lowest was a shivery 1.7 degrees at Dublin Airport just one day before.
Every single May over the past 39 years has been hotter than the 20th century average, NOAA said.
It wasn’t all good news for Ireland though. Almost every single part of Ireland had higher than average rainfalls, particularly in the midlands: Mullingar had 186% of the long-term average rainfall, making it the wettest May in almost a decade. Meanwhile the number of hours of sunshine was below average while the number of dull days was higher than average.
All is not lost though – the previous record for high temperatures in May was set as recently as 2010, so there’s still hope for a nice warm start to the summer next year.
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