LAST MONTH was Ireland’s sunniest October in over 40 years with Cork enjoying its longest day of October sunshine (on the 11th) since records began in 1962.
While unsettled weather did bring wet and windy conditions at both the beginning and end of the month, much of October remained unusually dry and sunny. Dublin’s 134 hours of sunshine over the 31 days were the most recorded for the capital city since 1995. In total, Ireland enjoyed 40 per cent more sunshine than normal for the time of year.
For the most part, the sun was allowed to shine as monthly rainfall totals were below normal almost everywhere, continuing what has so far, been a drier year than most. The east and north of the country had half the normal rainfall for October.
There were between 14 and 17 wet days during the month at the majority of stations (days with one millimetre or more rainfall) and fewer than 10 such wet days were recorded in the Dublin area.
While the sun may have shone, the temperature did not rise. After a warm start to the month, which saw recordings two degrees higher than normal for the first 10 days, much cooler weather developed subsequently with severe frost in some areas late in the month.
As a result, despite the early bump in warmth, the country grew sufficiently cold afterwards to level off temperatures to about the average mean for Octobers past.
Daily maximum values did rise to above 20 degrees in places on the 8th which marked the highest temperature for between seven and 13 years in some places during October. In contrast widespread ground frost developed after mid-month, with particularly low air and ground temperatures in eastern and midland areas on the 25th.
The warmest recordings in the country (11.7 degrees) on average were taken at Roche’s Point and Valentia Observatory in Cork and Kerry respectively.
The lowest mean temperatures for October (9.4 degrees) were recorded at Ballyhaise and Knock airport in Cavan and Mayo respectively.