Three Irish weather stations report driest November on record

Not many weather records were broken in November just passed, but three of Met Éireann’s weather stations experienced their driest November on record.

The month was slightly unusual among Novembers past in that it was mild and dry for most of the month and even sunny on the south of the island.

In addition, rainfall was below average nearly everywhere, conditions being driest in the east.

Temperatures were also above average everywhere but while it was sunny in the south, it was dull in the north and northwest.

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The mild conditions owed their presence to a period of high pressure, which during the first two-thirds of the month, was mostly centred to the south of Ireland.

The final third of the month saw high pressure shift to the west of Ireland. The shift in the position of the high pressure allowed a mostly north or northwesterly airflow to take hold. This brought cool air masses from the north but it stayed relatively dry overall.

A depression of 976 hPa, named storm Arwen by the Met Office (UK), brought the strongest winds of the month on the 26th and 27th, as it moved south to southeastward along the east coast of the UK.

Met Éireann said nearly all rainfall totals were below their long-term average (LTA) for the month.

The number of rain days ranged from nine days at Dublin Airport, to 28 days at both Belmullet, Co Mayo and Knock Airport, Co Mayo. Three stations had their driest November on record. These were Oak Park, Co Carlow with 20.9 mm (24 per cent of its LTA), Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon with 49.6 mm (48 per cent of its LTA) and Finner, Co Donegal with 74.8 mm (58 per cent of its LTA).

All average air temperatures were above their long-term average for the month.

The number of days with ground frost ranged from zero days at Newport, Co Mayo to 14 days at both Phoenix Park, Co Dublin and Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon.

Nearly all available sunshine totals were above their long-term average with the highest number of daily sunshine hours recorded at Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford on Thursday 4th, when 9.3 hours were recorded.

Monthly mean wind speeds ranged from 5.1 knots (9.4 km/h) at Moore Park, Co Cork to 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h) at Malin Head, Co Donegal. Gales were reported on 10 days during the month, with strong gales reported on Saturday 27th and storm force winds reported on Friday 26th.

The highest gust was 70 knots (130 km/h) while the month’s highest 10-minute mean wind speed was 52 knots (96 km/h), storm force 10.