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100 Facts About Ireland’s Weather (Parts 1 and 2)
Topic Started: April 18 2011, 04:45 PM (3,301 Views)
Mark (IWO)
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50 facts about Ireland's weather, compiled by Irish Weather Online

1. The longest drought in Ireland occurred in Limerick between 3 April 1938 and 10 May 1938 (37 days).
2. The history of modern meteorology in Ireland dates back to 8 October 1860, when the first weather observations were transmitted from Valentia Observatory on Valentia Island in County Kerry to the British Meteorological Office.
3. The highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was 33.3 °C (91.9 °F) at Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny on 26 June 1887
4. The highest recorded air temperature in Ireland during the 20th Century was 32.5°C at Boora, Co. Offaly on 29th June 1976.
5. The lowest temperature was −19.1 °C (−2.4 °F) at Markree Castle, County Sligo on 16 January 1881. Castlederg recorded a Northern Ireland record low temperature of −18.6 °C (−1.5 °F) at 9:00 GMT on the 23rd December 2010.
6. The lowest grass minimum temperature recorded in Ireland was -19.6°C at Glasnevin, Dublin on 12th January 1982.
7. The earliest recorded tornado in Europe occurred at Rosdalla, near Kilbeggan in Co. Westmeath on April 30, 1054
8. In 1859, Irish scientist John Tyndall was the first to correctly explain why the sky is blue.
9. Cork Airport experiences the least thunder; receiving it 3.7 days per year on average. In neighbouring Co Kerry, Valentia Island experiences the most thunder; receiving 7.1 days per year on average
10. Some of the worst thunderstorms ever recorded in Ireland took place In Dublin on 11 June 1963. Severe flooding also occurred in various parts of the capital.
11. Scores of people were killed across the country on January 6, 1839, during The Night of the Big Wind
12. The driest year recorded in Ireland was 1887, with only 356.6 mm (14.04 in) of rain recorded at Glasnevin, County Dublin.
13. The highest monthly sunshine duration was 308.2 hours at Valentia, Co. Kerry in July 1955.
14. The lowest monthly sunshine duration was 6.4 hours at Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal in January 1974.
15. The snowiest weather station in Ireland is in Clones, County Monaghan; which receives, on average, nearly 30 days of snow and/or sleet per year
16. Rosslare, County Wexford is the sunniest location in Ireland, and receives on average 4.33 hours of sunshine per day (1,580.45 hours per year)
17. The dullest, i.e., least sunny, part of the island is in the northern half of the country. Clones, County Monaghan is the least sunniest location in Ireland, receiving on average 3.19 hours of sunshine per day (1,164.35 hours per year).[3]
18. The highest wind speed ever recorded in Ireland was 200 km/h (124 mph; 108 kn) at Kilkeel, County Down on 12 January 1974.
19. The highest 10-minute mean wind speed was 71kts at Foynes, Co. Limerick on 18th January 1945.
20. On December 21, 1796 an event caused by Ireland’s unpredictable weather irrevocably changed the course of Irish and European history. On the shortest day of the year a French fleet had anchored in Bantry Bay at the behest of Theobald Wolfe Tone. Gale force winds prevented the force from landing and the mission was aborted.
21. The station that records the least amount of gale force winds is Birr, County Offaly; recording them on average 1.2 days per year.
22. October 1974 to August 1976 was the driest period for more than 150 years in many parts of Ireland.
23. The greatest hourly total was 97 mm (3.82 in); recorded at Orra Beg, County Antrim, August 1980
24. The greatest daily total was 243.5 mm (9.59 in); recorded at Cloore Lake, County Kerry on 18 September 1993
25. The greatest monthly total was 790.0 mm (31.10 in); recorded at the Comeragh Mountains in October 1996
26. The greatest annual rainfall total was 3,964.9 mm (156.10 in); recorded at Ballaghbeena Gap, County Kerry in 1960.
27. The weather station with the highest number of “wet days” is Belmullet, County Mayo with 193 days per year
28. The station with the lowest number of “wet days” is Dublin Airport, County Dublin with 128 days per year.
29. Ernest Shackleton, famed for his participation in the 1901-1904 Antarctic expedition across the Ross Ice Shelf, was born in Kilkea, near Athy In County Kildare
30. A tornado downed trees and damaged cars at Dunboyne, Co Meath on 11 May 2007
31. An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit the Llŷn Peninsula, and was felt along Ireland’s east coast
32. Hurricane Charlie in 1986 brought some of the worst flooding in over 100 years to many parts of Ireland, particularly Dublin, Clare, Kerry and Cork.
33. Irish weather forecaster Ted Sweeney claims a special place in world history by filing a famous weather report which delays the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy for 24 hours
34. The centre of Cork was flooded by the River Lee to a depth of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in November 2009. The floods caused €141m in damages to Cork city
35. Galway man Richard Donovan became the first person in history to run a marathon at both the North and South Pole in 2002.
36. Snow drifts of up to 15 Feet were recorded over the higher grounds of both Wicklow and Wexford on December 30 1962
37. Storms during the 1979 Fastnet race wreaked havoc on over 306 yachts taking part, resulting in 15 fatalities
38. Arctic weather conditions resulted in poor harvests and a famine in Ireland in 1740
39. The foggiest location in Ireland is Cork Airport, which has 99.5 days of fog per year
40. The least foggy location is Valentia Island, County Kerry, which has 8.9 days of fog per year
41. 10 tornadoes were recorded across Ireland in 2005. They occurred in Dingle, Killucan, Clonee, Ballymore, Rasharkin, Derrymore, Ballinamullen, Markethill, Gougenabarra and Inver
42. The highest sea level pressure ever recorded in Ireland was 1051.9hpa at Valentia, Co.Kerry on 28th January 1905.
43. Lowest mean sea level pressure ever recorded in Ireland was 931.2hpa at Limerick on 28th November 1838.
44. 20,000 years ago Ireland was almost totally covered by a thick ice sheet stretching south-west from Scotland.
45. Armagh astronomers began taking weather measurements in 1795. Their records, which continue today, are the longest continuous set of weather records in Ireland and they are now being used to study climate change.
46. The course of history was changed when a large portion of the 130-strong Spanish Armada fleet sent by Philip II to invade England, sank during storms off the coast of Ireland. Up to 24 ships of the Armada were wrecked around Ireland’s coastline from Antrim to Kerry.
47. The country’s heaviest ever recorded snowfall occurred on 1 April 1917. metre snowdrifts were reported in the west.
48. A thunderstorm, with hailstones as large as four inches in circumference, occured in Castletown, Co. Offaly. A woman is injured and a hen is killed!
49. Kilkenny receives the most amount of days with air frost, with an average of 53.0 days with air frost recorded annually
50. Despite being only 37km apart, Dublin Airport records air frost on average 24.3 days per year, while Casement Aerodrome records air frost on average 41.3 days per year
The coldest winter you will ever experience is a summer in West Clare.
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Mark (IWO)
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here is 50 more

Additional Facts Added On 6 May 2011

1. A storm on February 26/27th 1903 uprooted 2,000 trees on an estate near Birr and 4,000 on an estate in Kilkenny.
2. The station with the lowest mean wind speed in Ireland is Kilkenny, averaging at 6.5 kn (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph)
3. On June 11 1993 24 hr rainfall totals in Dublin and Kildare reached in excess of 100mm, a record for both counties. June 1993 was one of the wettest months on record in Ireland.
4. Ballyhaise and Clones both recorded 60 days with frost between December 1962 and February 1963
5. Gale force winds continued across the entire country for a period of 24 hrs on 9th February 1988. The situation was unique as most other storms to have affected Ireland in the past were short-lived with the strong winds concentrated over a few hours.
6. Ireland, depressed by the weight of the ice during the Ice Age, continues to rise to this day, at a rate of roughly 2mm per year.
7. One of the most severe thunderstorms on record occurred on the evening of July 25th and morning of July 26th 1985. Hundreds of farm animals were killed by lightning and large hailstones extensively damaged crops.
8. The Beaufort scale, an empirical measure for describing wind speed, was created in 1806 by Sir Francis Beaufort from Navan, Co Meath
9. On August 12, 1865 a meteorite (the Dundrum Meteorite) was observed falling in Clonoulty, about 5 km (3 mi) north of Dundrum Village. The Meteorite is currently stored at the Natural History Museum in London.
10. December 2010 was the coldest December on record. Straide in Co Mayo recorded minus 17.5c, while Castlederg In Co Tyrone reported minus 18.6c on December 23rd
11. Dunsink Observatory in Dublin was the first observatory built (1783) in Ireland, the second being Armagh Observatory (1789)
12. Hurricane Debbie on 16 September 1961 caused extensive damage to property over the western half of the country, where there were 11 deaths.
13. Northern Ireland’s highest monthly sunshine record (298.0 hours) was recorded in Mount Stewart, County Down
14. On October 28th, 1927, 45 lives were lost as sea during a storm off the County Mayo coast
15. The average annual relative humidity is 83.0% and average monthly relative humidity ranges from 76% in June to 87% in January, November & December.
16. Richard Kirwan (born 1733) from Cloughballymore, Co. Galway, is one of Ireland’s most famous geologists and meteorologists. He is best known for being one of the last supporters of the theory of phlogiston
17. Disaster occurred on the night of 30 January 1925 at around 8pm at the Owencarrow Viaduct, Donegal. Winds of up to 120mph derailed carriages of a train, killing four.
18. The night of the Big Wind” on the 6th-7th January 1839 probably caused more widespread damage in Ireland than any storm in recent centuries. At least 25 people were killed.
19. Northern Ireland’s highest recorded temperature is 30.8 °C (87.4 °F) reported at Knockarevan, County Fermanagh on June 30 1976 and Shaw's Bridge, Belfast, County Antrim 1976-06-30 July 12 1983
20. The mean temperature in Ireland is 9.6 °C (49 °F).
21. in 1755, Tsunamis waves up to 40 feet reached Kinsale after an earthquake in the Portuguese capital killed 70,000 peopl
22. The worst outbreak of bog, forest and gorse fires in more than half a century occurred during the Bank Holiday Weekend in 2011. Fires were reported in 16 counties.
23. The summer of 1995 was the warmest on record, with mean air temperatures two degrees above average in most places. Temperatures rose above 30c on a number of days and night-time minima remained above 15c.
24. The oar-powered Spanish Armada galleass Zuńiga anchored off-shore at Liscannor with a broken rudder in the summer of 1588, having found a gap in the Cliffs of Moher. The Zuńiga escaped the coast with favourable winds, moored at le Havre, and finally made it home to Naples in the following year.
25. In December 1954, many towns across the north and east of Ireland experienced severe flooding. 2,000 families were affected when the banks of the Tolka River in Dublin were breached. Elsewhere, the River Shannon the Shannon reached its highest level since 1925 and a number of ships sunk or run aground off the Irish coast
26. Farm buildings were destroyed, homes were damaged and trees were uprooted by a tornado at Summerhill, Co Meath on St. Patrick’s Day 1995.
27. Dublin native and geophysicist Robert Mallet (born 3 June 1810) is known as the father of seismology due to his pioneering research on earthquakes. Explosion seismology was first tested in 1851, when Mallet used dynamite explosions to measure the speed of elastic waves in surface rocks - pioneering and coining the word 'seismology
28. In January 1982, Phoenix Park in Dublin recorded 8 consecutive days with mean daily temperatures less than 0ş C.
29. The great Irish snowfall of January 25/26th, 1917 lay persistently on the ground until February 18th.
30. An act for the drainage of Irish bogs, passed in March 1830.
31. A Mr. M. Fitzgerald provided an account of ball lightning in County Donegal on 6 August 1868, that lasted 20 minutes and left a 6 metre square hole, a 90 metre long trench, a second trench 25 metres long, and a small cave in the peat bog
32. The water level of Lough Derg broke all previous records on 26 November 2009. Serious flooding affected much of the country during the month. The floods caused €141m in damages to Cork city alone
33. 12cm of snow fell at Roches Point, Co Cork on 12-13 January 1987, the greatest depth of snow recorded at the location since records began
34. Some of the most serious flooding ever recorded in Ireland occurred during the period 27 November to 1 December 1973. Many towns in Kerry, Cork and Limerick were badly hit by flooding. 90.5mm of rainfall was recorded at Barna, C0. Kerry, in one 24-hr period.
35. The highest daily minimum temperature was set on 14 August 2001 at Belfast
36. The highest gust speed record (low level sites) was reported on 12 January 1974 at Kilkeel, County Down (108 knots 124 mph).
37. Irish aviation pioneer James Fitzmaurice’s attempt to make the first successful Trans-Atlantic aircraft flight from East to West was scuppered by poor weather conditions off the Galway coast. Turbulence and poor visibility forced him to land at Beale Strand near Ballybunion in County Kerry. On 12–13 April 1928, Fitzmaurice flew in the crew of the Bremen on the first transatlantic aircraft flight from East to West.
38. A gust of 98 knots (113m.p.h.) at Malin Head on 16 September 1961 is the joint highest gust ever recorded in Ireland -the same value was recorded at Foynes, Co. Limerick on January 18th 1945
39. There are an average of 1503 hours of sunlight per year with an average of 4.1 hours of sunlight per day.
40. 157.1mm of rain was recorded at Valentia during the first two days of November 1980, the highest ever recorded there in any two day period.
41. 3 inches of rain in 30 hours on 2/3 February 1803 submerged Castle Yard and Patrick Street in Dublin in 3 metres of water.
42. Between 20-30 days of snowfall were recorded in Ireland between early January and mid-March 1947
43. The last recovered meteorite in Ireland is the Leighlinbridge meteorite. The 220g rock was recovered in the Carlow town on 28th November 1999.
44. January 1974 was one of the stormiest month of the 20th century. One storm on 26-27th January left 100,000 ESB customers without supply. Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford were the worst affected counties. The Forestry Department also reported that 200,000 cubic metres of timber was felled during the month.
45. Snow depths measuring 26cm were recorded at Dublin Airport on 13 January 1982.
46. Carrauntoohil (1038 metres), highest mountain in Ireland. Slieve Donard (852 Metres) in County Down is the highest mountain in Northern Ireland
47. The summer of 1995 was the driest on record at Malin Head, Casement and Cork Airport
48. Hurricane force winds were recorded in parts of Ireland on St Stephens Day, 1998.
49. A 2.7 magnitude tremor was recorded in Lisdoonvarna, north Clare in May 2010, the first earthquake to be recorded in the south west of Ireland in modern times.
50. The main ice sheet across Ireland during the last Ice Age was 1000 meters thick in places
The coldest winter you will ever experience is a summer in West Clare.
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