Ireland had record cold February, below normal rainfall
Featured image: Snow day in Kinsale, Ireland on February 28, 2018. Credit: Daniel Carey @thedanielcarey
Overall, high pressure weather dominated Ireland during February, Met Éireann said in their monthly weather summary for February 2018. Rainfall totals were below normal in many areas, while sunshine totals were above normal. After sunny, dry, calm weather in the final week of the month, the last day (28th) brought snow and record low temperatures. Gurteen, County Tipperary recorded a maximum air temperature of -1.1 °C (30 °F), 9.8 °C (17.6 °F) below its Long-Term Average (LTA).
Nearly all rainfall totals were below their LTA for the month. Percentage of monthly rainfall values ranged from 50% (monthly rainfall total of 48.7 mm / 1.91 inches) at Cork Airport to 127% (monthly rainfall total of 123.7 mm / 4.98 inches) at Belmullet, County Mayo.
Monthly rainfall totals ranged from 25.5 mm / 1 inch (percentage of LTA 53%) at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin to 155.6 mm / 6.12 inches (percentage of LTA 123%) at Newport, Co Mayo.
The month's wettest day was also recorded at Newport, Co Mayo with 43.1 mm (1.69 inches) on February 10. The number of rain days ranged from 14 days at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin to 23 days at Sherkin Island, Co Cork.
The number of wet days (those with 1 mm / 0.04 inches or more) ranged from 7 days at Dublin Airport to 18 days at Newport, Co Mayo and Valentia Observatory, Co Kerry. The number of very wet days (those with 10 mm / 0.4 inches or more) ranged from zero days at a few stations to 4 days at Newport, Co Mayo. Widespread snow occurred on the 28th.
All mean air temperatures across the country were below their LTA for the month. Deviations from mean air temperature for the month ranged from -2.1 °C (-3.8 °F) at Oak Park and Markree (mean temperature 13.4 °C / 56.1 °F and 12.0 °C / 53.6 °F respectively) at various stations to -1.3 °C / -2.3 °F (4.1 °C / 39.4 °F mean temperature) at Finner, Co Dongeal.
Mean temperatures for the month ranged from 2.9 °C / 37.2 °F (difference from LTA -1.3 °C) at Knock Airport, Co Mayo to 6.1 °C / 43 °F (difference from LTA -1.4 °C / -2.5 °F) at Sherkin Island, Co Cork.
The month's highest temperature was reported at Fermoy (Moore Park), Co Cork on February 19 with a temperature of 14.3 °C / 57.7 °F.
The month's lowest air minimum was recorded on February 28 at Gurteen, Co Tipperary with -5.7 °C (21.7 °F) while the lowest grass minimum was -11.5 °C (11.3 °F) reported at Markree, Co Sligo on February 27.
All stations reported air and ground frost during the month. The number of days with ground frost ranged from 6 days at Sherkin Island, Co Cork to 27 days at both Dublin (Phoenix Park) and Ballyhaise, Co Cavan. The number of days with air frost ranged from 2 days at Mace Head, Co Galway to 15 days at both Markree, Co Sligo and Claremorris, Co Mayo.
All available sunshine totals were above their LTA. Percentage of monthly sunshine values ranged from 147% (monthly sunshine total of 104.4 hours) at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin to 157% at Knock Airport, Co Mayo (monthly sunshine total of 94.4 hours).
Monthly mean wind speeds ranged from 12 km/h (7.45 mph) at Fermoy (Moore Park), Co Cork and Mullingar, Co Westmeath to 31.9 km/h (19.8 mph) at Malin Head, Co Donegal.
The month's highest gust was reported at both Mace Head, Co Galway and Roche's Point, Co Cork on February 12 and 15 with 107.4 km/h (66.7 mph). The highest 10-minute wind speed was 83.3 km/h (51.7 mph) at Mace Head, Co Galway on the 11th.
This report is based on Met Éireann monthly weather summary for February 2018 (source)
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
Published in the last 24 hours
- A meteorite blew a crater beside a village near Lake Titicaca in 2007, and dozens of villagers who went to see it got headaches and nausea, though tests found nothing the rock had added to the water Epicenter
- The people who pay closest attention to the weather are the ones storms have already cost the most, a study of 946 students found, with one damaging storm making little difference to how much attention a student paid, but two or more making a clear one Epicenter
- The sea is falling in Juneau, Alaska, because land freed from melted glaciers is rising about 0.6 inches a year Epicenter
- A dam above Los Angeles collapsed just before midnight on March 12, 1928, and the flood killed more than 400 people, hours after the engineer who built it had spent two hours looking at a new leak and decided there was no danger Epicenter
