2005: year of tornadoes, floods and sunbursts

SEARING images of commuters stuck in snowdrifts, cars upended by a mini-tornado, flooded homes and sun-baked summer days suggest a year dominated by extremes of weather in Ireland.

But, according to Met Eireann, the country enjoyed relatively stable and mild weather in 2005.

“It was a fairly decent year over all,” said Met Eireann meteorologist and forecaster Gerry Murphy.

“There were some significant winter storms at the start of the year but then we had a fairly normal spring, although it was wet enough in the west.

Summer was pleasant with a good balance of dry spells but no real drought and the autumn was fairly normal. This winter is nothing exceptional, even though there were some storms in November.”

What about devastation in Dublin in August when a mini-tornado struck, surely a sign of abnormal weather?

Not according to the weather expert. “In fact we have between five and 10 tornados every year,” said Mr Murphy. “They occur in very unstable, showery situations. Their effects may look drastic, there is nothing unusual about them.”

Winter 2004/5 (December, January, February)

It was the warmest winter since 1997/8 at most forecasting stations. Each of the winter months was milder than normal.

Sunshine totals for the season were near normal generally, but were much higher in the south-east compared with the north and north-west.

Spring 2005 (March, April, May)

There was a big variation across the country in spring rainfall, which was above normal at all stations except at Casement Aerodrome. It was the wettest spring since 1994 at Shannon Airport and Valentia Observatory, while it was the driest since 1997 at Casement. Mean temperatures for the season were around a degree higher than normal everywhere. Unusually for spring, the season’s highest temperature was recorded in March; Valentia’s maximum of 20.7 degrees on March 19 was its highest March temperature since records began there over 100 years ago.

Summer 2005 (June, July, August)

Each month of summer was warmer than normal and it was the warmest overall since the record-breaking 1995. Summer rainfall was below normal almost everywhere, with only around three quarters of the normal amount in parts of the midlands and east. Sunshine totals for the season were below normal generally but were a little higher than normal in parts of the south-east and south-west.

Autumn 2005 (September, October, November)

Apart from a cold spell during the second half of November, temperatures were above normal.

Mean air temperatures were about one degree above normal. The warmest weather was in early September when temperatures approached 25C in western areas. Both September and October were dull, but November was sunny everywhere.