Mayo hit with the worst of the wet weather

Mayo experienced the wettest and rainiest conditions in the country this summer.

Parts of the West and North West had their wettest August in history, according to a new report from Met Eireann. While Dublin Airport had its driest summer since 2018 with 104.7mm of rain (53% of the seasonal average) Newport in Mayo had four times that amount of rainfall at 419mm, 130% of its long-term average.

The season’s wettest day was also recorded at Newport with 34.6 mm on Sunday, August 4. The number of rain days ranged from 43 days at Roche’s Point, Co Cork to 73 days at Knock Airport. The number of wet days ranged from 25 days at Oak Park, Co Carlow to 57 days at Newport. The number of very wet days ranged from zero days at Moore Park, Co Cork to 18 days at Newport.

Mayo also recorded some of the dullest days of the summer. The number of dull days ranged from six days at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin to 17 days at both Valentia Observatory, Co Kerry and Belmullet, The Mayo summer truly was as bad as it felt as the county was also hit with high winds during the season with one of the summer’s highest 10-minute mean wind speeds of Met Éireann said it was the coldest summer since 2015 with an average temperature of just 14.5 degrees almost 0.3 degrees below the long term average for 1991-2020.

It is the first time since the spring of 2021 that a season has been colder than average. The blame for the cool summer was northerly airflows from the Arctic which set in in early June. It blocked warmer air from the south and this air flow continued for June and July.