October Summary: Warm but mostly cloudy; becoming wet after mainly dry first half

MetEireann

Spells of dry and relatively calm weather during October alternated with more unsettled conditions, when frontal systems associated with deep Atlantic depressions brought spells of heavy rain. Monthly rainfall totals were below normal in western areas but were above normal over much of the east and south. The heaviest daily falls in most areas were on the 6th, 9th, in the period 19th to 24th and on the 30th. There were between 13 and 18 wetdays during the month in most places (days with 1mm or more rainfall), less than the normal range for October of between 17 and 22 wetdays.

Mean monthly air temperatures were above normal everywhere, by more than one degree generally. As shown by the charts on page two, there was very little variation in maximum temperatures throughout the month, but minimum values of air temperature fluctuated from close to freezing on a number of nights to almost 15°C in places towards the end of the month. There were between four and seven ground frosts recorded in most inland areas during the month, close to the normal amount for October, but Mullingar was the only station to record an air frost, which was slight.

There were some sunny days during the first week of the month and also around mid-month, but much of October was dull. Sunshine totals were below normal except in western areas and it was the dullest October for between 12 and 14 years in many places.

Danno

www.laoisweather.com

October has ended after a rather dry and mild month in general. Rainfall was recorded from fronts delivering heavy bouts of rain as opposed to our more normal showery conditions. Large totals were delivered on the 6th, 9th and 30th when 21.4mm, 10.8mm and 15.0mm fell respectively. A grand total of 79mm was recorded for the month, 10% lower than the expected 88mm. A total of 11 wet days were observed.

Mild nights and mild days were commonplace with 10 nights staying above 10c, more surprising was that half of these nights were on the last five dates. The coolest max was 12.7c on the 19th, and the max was 17.3c on the 28th. The coldest night was the 7th when 1.2c was observed and 13.2c was the mildest night on the 29th. Other cool nights included the 12th and 17th with 2.1c and 1.5c recorded.

Winds were light in general for the month with an average windspeed of 4.2mph. The max gust of 30mph was recorded on four different dates, the 19th, 20th, 21st and 29th. Winds were mostly of a SSE direction.

Deep Easterly

Yep, certainly very dry here in the West this October. Apart from the 9th, it really wasn't until the last couple of days that any significant rain fell here in Galway at least.

Local stats and observations for October in Tuam, Co Galway:

Mean Max Temp: 14.8c (+0.8c)
Absolute Max Temp: 17.7c on the 14th at 4.45pm

Mean Min Temp: 8.3c (+1.8c)
Absolute Min Temp: 1.5c on the 7th at 5.15am

Overall Mean Temp: 11.5c (+1.3c)

Total Rainfall: 103.2mm
Highest Daily Total: 18.0mm on the 9th
Highest Rain Rate: 83.6mm/ph at 3.55pm on the 9th.

Unusually, no air frost recorded this October. Dry overall with only 14 days out the month recording values of over 2.0mm with no notable daily values, although there was 26 days when more than 0.2mm was recorded, much of which was from dense early morning fog or heavy dew. Very few days with significant wind with the highest gust being 57 mph on the 24th. Neither hail nor thunder occurred here during October which is a pity really as these would have added some sort of interest in what was a featureless month weatherwise here overall.