It rains all year round in Ireland, or so the cliché goes, and it appears that global warming will do nothing to change that.
Met Éireann's report on the weather for autumn released yesterday shows that while Ireland may be getting warmer, it is certainly not getting any less wet.
The report shows that while it was the warmest autumn on record at many stations, it was also one of the wettest. Most stations' records go back to the 1950s.
At two stations, Phoenix Park in Dublin and Malin Head, Co Donegal, it was the warmest autumn since records began, in 1855 and 1885 respectively. September and October were particularly warm months. However, rainfall totals were also above normal throughout the Republic this autumn, with around 50 per cent more rainfall than normal at several stations.
Windswept residents of Cork and Kilkenny will perhaps not be surprised to hear that this autumn was the wettest on record at Cork airport and Kilkenny.
Apart from the first week of November, the season was wet throughout, with rainfalls of 50mm measured on September 20th and 21st, October 25th and November 15th. The highest daily rainfall was 55.3mm at Valentia Observatory on October 25th.
Shannon Airport's station recorded rainfall of 48mm on September 21st, which was its highest daily fall for autumn in over 50 years, but it also recorded the highest daily temperature for the season on September 11th, when it was 23.1 degrees.
Sunshine totals were up across the Republic and it was the sunniest autumn for 20 years in the Dublin area. Almost all stations recorded their sunniest day of the season on either September 7th or 8th.
This weekend, wind and rain are forecast to continue, with damaging gale force southwest winds of 110 to 140 kilometres per hour expected on Sunday.