Dull, warm but wet as summer weather fails to shine again

DULL, warm but very wet was the weather verdict for July, as the latest Met Éireann weather summary shows last month was one of the wettest on record in some areas.

After a promising June, last month was a return to the summer weather long suffering Irish people are becoming accustomed to.

Rainfall totals for July were above normal everywhere and were more than twice the national average in some places.

Mayo seemed to fair worse. Claremorris had its wettest July since records began there in 1950, while Belmullet’s total of 140mm for the month equalled its previous wettest July value, recorded way back in 1988.

Most weather stations recorded between 15 and 21 wet days for the month, compared with the normal range for July of between nine and 13.

Given the large amount of rain we had to endure, it comes as no surprise that last month was also lacking on the sunshine front.

The first relatively dull month of the year, July sunshine levels were below normal everywhere.

Valentia Observatory’s sunshine total of just 85 hours was among the five lowest for July in over a century of records at the station and was also the lowest of any month so far in 2010.

However, despite the rain and the dull weather, there was some hope in July as temperatures remained close to normal. In fact, most stations showed air temperatures to be half a degree higher than normal at most stations.

Met Éireann do not give long-term forecasts, so those looking for any hopeful predictions for the coming month have to search further afield.

However, New Zealander Ken Ring, who correctly predicted not only last summer’s gloomy conditions using his study of the moon and tides but also the flooding of November, has few consoling words for people.

Speaking earlier this year, Mr Ring said August may bring a little more sunshine, but the days will also be cooler and the rain will still be ever-threatening. In fact, he predicts up to 25% more rain than average for Connacht and Munster while 2010 as a whole will be wetter than average for most of the country.

“These are average to slightly drier-than-average expectations for Hillsborough in the north, Ardtarmon in the central west, Dublin in the central east, and in southern Ireland: Shannon, Kilkenny and Cork. Comparing to long-term monthly averages, the wettest month for the whole country may be September, followed by April.

“The driest month may be October,” he said.