Tuesday was the sunniest spring day for parts of Dublin in over three decades but the season was generally cool and dry according to latest weather statistics.
The recent blast of sunshine had a telling effect on Met Éireann’s weather data with generally above average temperatures recorded in May compared to a chilly March and April.
The highest temperature over the last three months was reported in Belmullet, Co Mayo where the mercury hit 25.4 degrees on May 9th, while March 18th was the coolest spring day countrywide.
Dublin Airport received 15.3 hours of almost unbroken sunshine on May 31st making it the highest daily sunshine for spring in 31 years for that station, and it was bettered only by Malin Head in Donegal which saw 1.5.9 hours of sunshine on the same day.
The lowest seasonal air temperature was -5.1 degrees in Westmeath while Oak Park in Carlow registered a grass minimum of -9.5 degrees.
Below average rainfall was recorded at almost all weather stations, apart from parts of the south and east which received typical or slightly above average amounts. This was aided by a wet spell at the beginning of April, and Newport in Mayo had the highest number of wet days with 48 compared to 29 at Dublin Airport. Cork Airport was particularly dull, with less than half an hour of sunshine on 21 days.
There were two named storms, Jake and Katie, the latter of which only affected parts of the UK. Storm Jake brought the season’s highest gust of 133 km/h at Mace Head along with the highest sustained wind speed of almost 100 km/h over a 10 minute period.
In its report for May also released on Thursday, Met Éireann noted that the month saw below average rainfall for two-thirds of weather stations.
The Phoenix Park experienced its warmest May in eight years, while Shannon Airport had its sunniest May in 16 years.