Summer 2018 - General Discussion

Gonzo

May - July was fantastic this summer. August still had some very nice days, but there were some very autumnal days with shockingly low daytime temperatures which wouldn't look out of place in early March. The last week of August was definitely a low point with temperatures struggling to hit 18C. August never fails to disappoint.

MJohnston

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

I think Clonmel, who is obviously a sun/heat lover, rightfully sees this summer as ending on a not so sunny and warm note. (Personally, it is still far too warm for me!) I think what made this August seem more 'Autumnal' than most was just down to relativity. It was a typical August in many ways but after that freaky warmth and sunniness during a large part of the late May-July period, it just seemed to stand out more.

Yeah there's definitely a relativity thing at play.

MJohnston

Gonzo wrote: »

May - July was fantastic this summer. August still had some very nice days, but there were some very autumnal days with shockingly low daytime temperatures which wouldn't look out of place in early March. The last week of August was definitely a low point with temperatures struggling to hit 18C. August never fails to disappoint.

Interestingly though, if you look at Met Eireann's Daily Max/Min Departure from LTA temperature graph, for Dublin Airport, it actually wasn't that far below average for more than a couple of days!

Xenji

The problem is you say an Irish Sumner, we have vast differences between countys and even towns in countys.

For example in Castlebar it started off as a great Summer in June, but was just about average for most ofJuly and provided the usual washout in August, best summer in memory is not what we had here.

June

We had 15/30 days over 20C, with the highest temprature being 30.6C and the lowest being 4.9C, we had 69.8mm of rain, half of which fell on the 19th, if that day was taken out if would of been the driest June in over 50 years.

July

We had 09/31 days over 20C and the highest temprature being 26.9C and lowest being 7.8C, we had 71.8mm of rain.

August

We had 5/31 days over 20C and the highest temprature being 22.8C and the lowest 6.5C, 192mm of rain making it 10 years in a row we have had 115mm or more of rain.

sryanbruen

Xenji wrote: »

The problem is you say an Irish Sumner, we have vast differences between countys and even towns in countys.

For example in Castlebar it started off as a great Summer in June, but was just about average for most ofJuly and provided the usual washout in August, best summer in memory is not what we had here.

June

We had 15/30 days over 20C, with the highest temprature being 30.6C and the lowest being 4.9C, we had 69.8mm of rain, half of which fell on the 19th, if that day was taken out if would of been the driest June in over 50 years.

July

We had 09/31 days over 20C and the highest temprature being 26.9C and lowest being 7.8C, we had 71.8mm of rain.

August

We had 5/31 days over 20C and the highest temprature being 22.8C and the lowest 6.5C, 192mm of rain making it 10 years in a row we have had 115mm or more of rain.

It wasn't that great for the north and west during the second half of the Summer because of the fact the easterly winds (which are key to you getting warm and dry weather) were totally cut off (and didn't come back) after early July and the winds turned more southwesterly to westerly. This tended to bring the warmest of the temperatures to the south and east than the north and west unlike in May & June. This continued into August though the jet stream was closer overhead as was anticipated so dragging the cloudier and cooler conditions further southwards than in July.

I don't think I could live in the northwest with the amount of sunshine received there on average compared to here in the east and southeast .

sharper

sryanbruen wrote: »

I don't think I could live in the northwest with the amount of sunshine received there on average compared to here in the east and southeast .

I grew up in the West. You get used to it like anything else but it's probably hard to describe or imagine a world which looks weird and odd on a fully sunny day. I don't know if any weather stations record how long rain lasted in additional to the total amount but one thing that's not obvious from total rainfall is it just keeps going and going in small amounts all day long.

Of course a possible side effect is when we have a bout of sunny weather with many 14 hour days of sun it wears me down.

You may notice people from foreign climates much prefer to settle in the east. It's not just a jobs thing.

SleetAndSnow

After our 14/15 hours of drizzle yesterday in cork city, the sun is out and shining next to a blue sky again. Ah much better.

giveitholly

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

After our 14/15 hours of drizzle yesterday in cork city, the sun is out and shining next to a blue sky again. Ah much better.

Any idea how much rainfall was recorded with all that drizzle

sryanbruen

Cork Airport recorded 5.8mm yesterday giving a final Summer 2018 rainfall total of 109.5mm so still the driest on record at the station.

Oneiric 3

Some little titbits regarding the IMT national mean temp for this summer. Keep in mind that similar stats at a more local level will vary.

Finishing mean (provisional) 15.7 Deg.C. Bang on par with that of Summer 2006 and 0.6 Deg.C below that of Summer 1995.

Highest daily mean max: 27.3 Deg.C on June 28th, which is the highest daily mean max since the 27.5 Deg.C of July 19th 2006

Highest daily mean min: 16.1 Deg.C on August 2nd, the highest mean min since the 16.3c of July 22nd 2014.

Data from Met Éireann.

Donegal Storm

sharper wrote: »

I grew up in the West. You get used to it like anything else but it's probably hard to describe or imagine a world which looks weird and odd on a fully sunny day. I don't know if any weather stations record how long rain lasted in additional to the total amount but one thing that's not obvious from total rainfall is it just keeps going and going in small amounts all day long.

Of course a possible side effect is when we have a bout of sunny weather with many 14 hour days of sun it wears me down.

You may notice people from foreign climates much prefer to settle in the east. It's not just a jobs thing.

It really is like a different country in the East, having grown up on the Donegal coast I know all too well of the weeks and weeks and weeks of neverending greyness and drizzle. Very rare you get even one full day like that in the East and when we do everyone's on here proclaiming it to be awful and depressing when it's what the west put up with for most of the year

sryanbruen

Second warmest and second driest on record at Kilkenny.

https://twitter.com/kilkennyweather/status/1035847754772303872

Mobhi1

I noticed that the warmest place in the country yesterday according to Met Éireann was Malin Head. I noticed yesterday that it had a southerly wind, which probably helped.

Andy From Sligo

pleasantly warm these last couple of days in south sligo - overcast tho - but temp around the 20's

compsys

appledrop wrote: »

Well Johnston if its stats you want Ive analysised Met Eireann temperature stats for August + they are nothing to write home about in Dublin anyway. Summer was amazing in June + July but not August. 1 day in whole month that hit 25 degrees. 20 days under 20 degrees in August at Dublin Airport. That's not great for a summer month.

Using Dublin Airport maybe isn't the fairest location for analyzing Dublin weather. If you used PP, there were only 14 days under 20 Celsius and its mean temp for August was 0.8 above average. Not bad.

DA still ended up 0.2 above the long-term average, despite the station being moved to a far colder location a few years ago.

Oneiric 3

Donegal Storm wrote: »

It really is like a different country in the East, having grown up on the Donegal coast I know all too well of the weeks and weeks and weeks of neverending greyness and drizzle. Very rare you get even one full day like that in the East and when we do everyone's on here proclaiming it to be awful and depressing when it's what the west put up with for most of the year

I would go one further and say that the differences (even if it is relative) in climates across the greater western half of Ireland is greater than those between east and west. Looking even at sunshine figures for example, inland western regions (Shannon, Claremorris) have a lower annual sunshine intake on average than coastal regions of the north and west (Malin, Belmullet, Valentia), yet these same regions are subject to greater variations of extreme temperature than these coastal regions, and very often, the east itself. The climate of the west of Ireland certainly cannot be described as uniform.

appledrop

Well I live beside Dublin Airport so that why I use it. That's my weather!

What a surprise today turned out to be. Lashing rain this morning but out in Portmanock this afternoon + it was amazing! Usually when you go to beach much cooler but one of those perfect sea days when not a breeze to be seen. Still can't get over how nice it was. A little bonus sunny day!

Andy From Sligo

the shirt came off and i went topless today! - that's how warm it was here where I am

acequion

MJohnston wrote: »

No that's because "total shyte" is just our normal summer weather. What we had this year was well above the average. There's no hyperbole there, you've seen the stats posted here about it.



Carried away with what? You might be bugged by "the denial brigade" but I'm equally bugged by people who can't help but whinge even though we just had a very good summer.

If anyone is codding themselves, its you and others who believe that Ireland should magically be having fantastic summers every year! Our climate just doesn't work that way (that's an actual touch of realism for you).

Sorry but when did I post that I think Ireland should magically be having fantastic summers every year??

You will find that I most certainly did not. Nor did I ever even imply that I don't 100% understand how our climate works. So please stop twisting what people write!

People, and that includes you, who accuse others of being whingers, just because they point out the truth, are indeed codding themselves. The truth is the truth, not negativity, not whingeing.

To assert otherwise is to cod oneself.

MJohnston

acequion wrote: »

Sorry but when did I post that I think Ireland should magically be having fantastic summers every year??

You will find that I most certainly did not. Nor did I ever even imply that I don't 100% understand how our climate works. So please stop twisting what people write!



People, and that includes you, who accuse others of being whingers, just because they point out the truth, are indeed codding themselves. The truth is the truth, not negativity, not whingeing.


To assert otherwise is to cod oneself.

acequion

sharper wrote: »

I grew up in the West. You get used to it like anything else but it's probably hard to describe or imagine a world which looks weird and odd on a fully sunny day. I don't know if any weather stations record how long rain lasted in additional to the total amount but one thing that's not obvious from total rainfall is it just keeps going and going in small amounts all day long.

Of course a possible side effect is when we have a bout of sunny weather with many 14 hour days of sun it wears me down.

You may notice people from foreign climates much prefer to settle in the east. It's not just a jobs thing.

Not so sure I agree sharper. You'll find lots of foreigners settled in west Cork and also west Kerry. So I guess not everyone objects to the weather on the west coast. Add to that the fact that the scenery is better, the pace of life slower, the cost of living cheaper and possibly friendlier people, though that is debatable. I actually think the nicest people in the world are in north Dublin

I grew up in the south west, lived for many years abroad and spent 3 years in Dublin before moving back to the south west. And there is no doubt that the climate is WAY better over East. And much and all as I love my home turf, because of the climate I won't stay here when I retire.

But we just have to put up with it.What else can we do! It does help to vent at times.:pac:

And it makes those rare beautiful days like today a joy to be alive.

Oneiric 3

Summer 2018 summary from Tuam, Co. Mayo.

June:
Hot and sunny. Some isolated heavy downpours at times. Very dry end.
Max: 31.1c /Min 4.6c / Rain 71.7mm

July:
Very warm and sunny. A number of severe downpours during 2nd half of the month.
Max 27.6c / Min 7.8c / Rain 100.5mm

August:
Warm and cloudyish. Fairly wet at times.
Max: 22.1c / Min 6.9c / Rain 109.3mm.

Gonzo

Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.

June:
mostly settled, dry, onshore east winds, cool at times but warm spells towards end of month.
Max Temp: 27C

July:
mostly settled, dry, very warm or hot most of the time.
Max Temp: 28C

August:
a few warm and hot days, plenty of cloudy and damp days, a few chilly days. Much more of an Atlantic influence compared to recent months.
Max Temp: 26C

compsys

appledrop wrote: »

Well I live beside Dublin Airport so that why I use it. That's my weather!

What a surprise today turned out to be. Lashing rain this morning but out in Portmanock this afternoon + it was amazing! Usually when you go to beach much cooler but one of those perfect sea days when not a breeze to be seen. Still can't get over how nice it was. A little bonus sunny day!

OK, that's fair enough. But realistically what type of weather are you expecting in Ireland in summer right beside the coast?

I still think 12/13 days over 20 is OK, even for August.

Of course by most standards it would be considered poor, but this is Ireland. It was also quite dry, but admittedly felt cloudy, which is often people's first criteria for how good a summer feels.

Oneiric 3

Just looking at some summer stats for Claremorris, and am surprised to see that Summer 2018, with a mean temp value of 15.03c, only ranks 7th warmest since 1950.

Warmest summers on record at this station:
1995: 15.93c
1983: 15.50c
2013: 15.20c
2006: 15.13c
1976: 15.10c
2003: 15.07c


From Met Éireann.


Edit: A quick look at Casement's highest summer stats to give a more eastern perspective. Summer 2018 finished 3rd warmest on record (going back to 1964)
1995: 16.07c
2006: 16.03c
2018: 15.97c
1976: 15.87c
1983: 15.80c
2013: 15.73c


Edit Edit: Cork Airport's stats. Summer 2018 finished 2nd warmest on record (since 1962)
1995: 16.33c
2018: 16.10c
1983: 15.97c
1989: 15.47c
2006: 15.43c
2013: 15.37c

sryanbruen

Back to 1950, April-August 2018 had the most positive NAO on record which was in part to the Summer conditions. This is truly remarkable given 2013 was the only positive NAO June-August from 2007 to 2017 (though 2017 was neutral).

https://twitter.com/WorldClimateSvc/status/1037391378681147392

Darwin

@syran, from what I'm reading strong positive phases of the NAO in summertime are associated with lower than normal temperatures and above normal precipitation in Mediterranean regions. This certainly wasn't the case for at least the Mediterranean coasts of Portugal, Spain and France (not sure about other regions). Any theories as to why this might be?

Artane2002

Darwin wrote: »

@syran, from what I'm reading strong positive phases of the NAO in summertime are associated with lower than normal temperatures and above normal precipitation in Mediterranean regions. This certainly wasn't the case for at least the Mediterranean coasts of Portugal, Spain and France (not sure about other regions). Any theories as to why this might be?

It depends on the jet stream's position. Like in winter 2017-18, it was tracking to the south of us bringing wetter and cooler than normal weather down to Spain and Portugal. The winter had a positive NAO. However, in March and early April I think, the NAO was negative but the jet stream was tracking way down south bringing more wet and cooler than average weather down to Spain and Portugal.

sryanbruen

Darwin wrote: »

@syran, from what I'm reading strong positive phases of the NAO in summertime are associated with lower than normal temperatures and above normal precipitation in Mediterranean regions. This certainly wasn't the case for at least the Mediterranean coasts of Portugal, Spain and France (not sure about other regions). Any theories as to why this might be?

In the late Spring and early Summer when the NAO was at its most positive phase (especially May), Iberia was cooler and wetter than average due to persistent lower than average pressure here whilst the Azores High linked up to us and conjoined with the Scandi High to form one massive block of high pressure keeping us unusually warm, dry and sunny for long periods of time (in Ireland standards). Remember those times when Ireland was hotter than the Canaries in late June? Iberia became warmer and drier as the season went on (as it nearly always does) as the westerlies began to come back to Ireland and the UK due to the infamous "European monsoon" phenomena. The Azores High ridged into Iberia and the Mediterranean (bar Greece and the Balkans where it remained very cool and wet compared to average) rather than up to Ireland and into Scandinavia. By that time, the Scandi High was gone thus disallowing easterlies to occur and pressure to rise over the Mediterranean.

I'm not the greatest artist here but here's some really really amateur charts to show you what I mean. As you can see, we have a classic positive NAO here with a strong Azores High and Icelandic Low but from May to July, low pressure was over Iberia and there was a Scandi High drawing the winds from the east. This all changed in latter July into August. If only it were as simple as typifying a positive NAO as unsettled for Iberia in Summer always.

Sorry I'm answering very late!

Darwin

Brilliant, thanks for the great explanation, that had me intrigued. Love the graphics btw!