December was mildest on record in parts of the country

Zachary Harpur, with his son Zaki, 9, from Shankill, Dublin, fishing on Dromoland Lake at Newmarket On Fergus, Co Clare.

If you thought last month was warmer than normal, you weren’t imagining it — new records show it was the mildest December ever recorded in parts of the country.

Met Éireann’s December 2021 weather review reveals that seven of the country’s 20 weather stations recorded their highest ever minimum temperature for the month.

Those records stretch back up to 60 years, according to the report.

All air temperatures across the country were above their long-term averages for December.

The largest deviations from average temperatures were 2C higher than expected at Finner in Donegal and Claremorris in Mayo.

Sherkin Island in Cork saw the highest average temperature for the month, at 9.6 degrees, while the overall highest temperature recorded of 14.6 degrees was noted at both the Phoenix Park and Casement Aerodrome on New Year’s Eve.

“It seems that the seasonal averages that we’ve looked at for the last 20 years are holding true, which suggest that there will be a continuing trend of warmer, wetter winters for Ireland continuing into the future,” said Cathal Nolan, a climate scientist at University College Cork.

“We’re seeing less and less night-time frosts,” he said, adding that while noteworthy events such as 2018’s Beast from the East snowstorm may still occur across Irish winters, the mild December just seen is “more indicative of what’s likely to come”.

Despite a general pattern of milder weather, a status yellow snow and ice warning has been issued for the whole country.

The warning is in place from 4pm tomorrow until 11am on Friday when there will be “hazardous travelling conditions”.

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