Coldest July in 50 years, and August arrives with downpour

IRELAND suffered its coolest July in up to half a century, Met Éireann figures show — and August starts on a downer with a Bank Holiday Monday washout likely in many places today.

The downpour comes after parts of the country had their least sunniest July in 14 years, despite the past month’s rainfall being at its lowest since 2006.

Heavy rain today will drench the east and south until late afternoon.

The mercury hit 24C last week and a sunny 19C yesterday but July was mainly cool and all but one of Met Éireann’s 11 main weather stations reported July average temperatures below normal.

The 1.7 million people who live in the greater Dublin area had their coolest July for 46 years. Met Éireann said Dublin’s main weather station, at the airport, averaged 13.7C, the coldest since 1965 when it was 13.1C.

Forecasters said almost all the south had its coolest July for 23 years, since 1988.

Cork Airport, for example, averaged 13.8C, its coolest since 1988 when it was 13.0C.

The month also saw freak low temperatures, with a 1.6C grass minimum temperature at Valentia, Co Kerry — the lowest since 1940.

Cork Airport air temperature, meanwhile, dropped to 6.2C on July 6, the coldest in 46 years.

And Casement airfield, near Dublin, recorded a 4.7C air temperature on the night of July 22-23, the chilliest since 1988.

To add to the summer misery, places in the west and south-west suffered below average sunshine.

At least rainfall was down on normal, however, with almost all stations having their driest July since 2006.

A Met Éireann spokesperson said: “July was a dull and cool month, although rainfall was below average. It was a very bitty month with repeated depressions following high pressure.”

But the rain is returning in buckets today as downpours sink many people’s hopes of a Bank Holiday Monday spent outside, with more rain tomorrow and Wednesday.

A Met Éireann forecast said: “Rain will spread northwards during Bank Holiday Monday and is likely to turn heavy in places, especially in the south and east. Further west, rain will be patchy.

“Later in the day, drier conditions will spread from the west to reach all areas soon after dark, and temperatures will be mild despite the rain.

“On Monday night, outbreaks of rain are likely to return to the eastern half of the country and Tuesday morning will probably start wet there. However, drier conditions elsewhere will spread to the east in the afternoon, with sunny intervals developing and it will feel warm.”