Climate in Ireland

What is the Climate of Ireland like? How wet is wet?

For a country with a multitude of names for rain... how bad is that rain?

The climate of Ireland is mild, humid and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. Ireland's climate is defined as a temperate oceanic climate.

 Table of Contents for this topic:

 


 

1. Introduction

 

January and February are the coldest months of the year, and mean daily air temperatures fall between 4 and 7 °C during these months. July and August are the warmest, with mean daily temperatures of 14 to 16 °C, whilst mean daily maximums in July and August vary from 17 to 18 °C near the coast, to 19 to 20 °C inland. The sunniest months are May and June, with an average of five to seven hours sunshine per day. Though extreme weather events in Ireland are comparatively rare when compared with other countries in the European continent, they do occur.

See the extreme weather events that have happened

"Between February and June, the influence of continental and Greenland anticyclones make these the months of least rainfall. The sea near Ireland is at its coldest in February and March and consequently the rise of mean air temperature is slow in spring. However, on clear days with light winds, afternoon temperatures can reach summer values even in March. In such situations the nights are cold. Air frost is not infrequent at inland locations, even in May. Continental anticyclones blocking Atlantic depressions are usually responsible for dry periods in late spring.

Towards late June or early July the rise in pressure over the ocean and a corresponding fall in pressure over Europe results in the general wind flow at the surface becoming westerly, bringing air with a long ocean track over Ireland, so that cloud cover, humidity and rainfall increase. From mid-July, clear nights tend to be accompanied by heavy dew. Warm air masses of high humidity and daytime heating sufficient to cause thunderstorms are a feature of mid to late summer weather.

With the advance of August there are occasional incursions into the Atlantic of cold northerly air masses and these produce active depressions in late August and September. In September the humid air is exposed to increasing periods of cooling by night and fog is frequent around dawn in low-lying districts.

In October and November westerly winds from the Atlantic pass over relatively warm seas, and frontal rain and post-cold frontal showers tend to be moderate to heavy. The development of anticyclones extending over Ireland in these months can produce very pleasant weather by day. However, fog in these situations is slow to clear in the morning, particularly in November when solar radiation income is low.From late summer through Autumn there is a risk of former tropical depressions mixing in with the North Atlantic weather pattern depressions to produce severe storms. These are quite rare but are very significant weather events.The broad sequence described above does not recur regularly each year. In an oceanic climate at the latitude of Ireland, variability of weather in some of the features referred to above may be completely missing over several months in an individual year." Met Climate of Ireland 

 


 

2. What is the weather like in general?

 

Well its mostly partly cloudly or cloudly, with most clear days being in SummerWe have very long days in summer and very short days in winterDepending where you looking at living in the country,  these will give you average rain and temperature of that area 


 

3. Temperatures and Rain averages

 

 Carlow:Cork:Donegal:Dublin: Galway:Kerry:Wexford: 


  4. Wind

 

 "The wind at a particular location can be influenced by a number of factors such as obstruction by buildings or trees, the nature of the terrain and deflection by nearby mountains or hills. For example, the rather low frequency of southerly winds at Dublin Airport is due to the sheltering effect of the mountains to the south. The prevailing wind direction is between south and west. Average annual wind speeds range from 3m/s in parts of south Leinster to over 8 m/s in the extreme north. On average there are less than 2 days with gales each year at some inland places like Carlow, but more than 50 a year at northern coastal locations such as Malin Head."

 

 

 

 

 


 

5. Summary

Its windiest in the North, West and South

Its wettest in the North, West and South

Coldest in the North and North West

Its generally drier, less windy and warmer (by 1 degree) in the central parts (inland) and West

 


 

Important links: 

 

  #MapMyMove- Our coaching Services - Confused or lost and need some direction, book a session with us to help untangle the confusion and work out your route of immigration

   Finding a home: Renting

   BLOG: Areas- What the Saffas say - Comments from our Facebook page on what towns, cities, villages and counties are like

   BLOG: Rentals and How to find one from an ex Agent in Ireland

   BLOG: Housing crisis in Ireland, what is this about?

   BLOG: How we decided where to live - Tips and tools to investigate what it's like in the various areas of Ireland

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