This summer was warm and dry overall, especially in the south and southeast of the country, according to Met Éireann’s Weather Provisional Statement for the summer, released on Friday.
The new report covers June, July and August during which time a number of records were broken, it says.
June of this year is provisionally the third driest on record since Met Éireann began recording rainfall 71 years ago.
The highest temperature of the season, 30.8 degrees, was recorded in Mount Dillon in Roscommon on Wednesday July 21st.
This is the highest maximum temperature this station had recorded since Met Éireann started keeping records here 13 years ago.
Cork’s Sherkin Island weather station recorded its driest summer since 2006.
The seasonal rainfall total in this Cork station was 126.4 mm, just 52 per cent of its long term average.
The highest daily rainfall of the summer was recorded in Mullingar in Co Westmeath where 71.1 mm of rainfall was reported on Thursday 5th August. It is the highest figure recorded since records began 71 years ago.
Overall, however, rainfall was below average for the season with many stations experiencing significant dry spells over the course of the summer.
The Dublin Airport and Phoenix Park stations experienced an absolute drought for 16 days between Saturday May 29th and Sunday June 13th.
The sunny south east received the most hours of sunshine with Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford reporting an average of 6.18 hours of sun per day.
The Wexford station, along with Valentia Observatory in Kerry, also recorded the highest amount of sunshine in one day.
Both received more than 15 hours of sunshine on the days in question with 15.3 recorded in Wexford on Saturday, July 17th, and the same amount registered in Kerry on Wednesday June, 30th.
As for this weekend’s weather, the dry and sunny conditions are set to end, as we move into a rainy autumn.
“It will stay mostly cloudy for the rest of Friday,” says Andrew Doran-Sherlock, meteorologist with Met Éireann.
There will be some light passing showers throughout Friday afternoon, but overall it will remain dry. Maximum temperatures will be between 16 and 19 degrees, and winds will be light and moderate, coming from the south and southeast.
Later, patches of mist and drizzle will develop, but temperatures won’t drop below nine degrees, and there will be a light breeze.
Saturday will produce the best weather this weekend. “There will be showers, but there will be more sunny spells. Temperatures will pick up, reaching between 17 and 21 degrees,” said Mr Doran-Sherlock.
On Sunday, there will be rain. The south and southwest will experience it first, with the front moving across the country in the afternoon. “The rain will be quite light, but it will be a wetter day,” he said.
The rain will also bring warmer air, which is set to stay with us as we move into early next week. Showers will still occur, but temperatures will reach the low to mid twenties.