Ireland experienced the second-hottest day in recorded history last month.
If you haven’t been living under a rock (and honestly, you might have been better off), you’ve probably noticed the sweltering hot weather in Ireland over the past few weeks.
Met Éireann released its Climate Statement for July 2022, confirming that the weather has been much drier and much, much hotter than previous Julys.
While July has typically been hit-or-miss in terms of good weather since 2016, 2021 and 2022 have been overall sunny, with temperatures and sunshine totals being higher than average.
“The third week [of July] was dominated by a particularly hot period between 17 July and 19 July when an exceptionally hot tropical continental air mass moved up from the south-southeast between low pressure to the west of the Iberian peninsula and high pressure over continental Europe,” Met Éireann wrote.
In terms of heat, all mean air temperatures were above their Long Term Average (LTA) for the month.
The highest temperature recorded in the country was 33.0 degrees Celsius in Phoenix Park in Dublin, the hottest temperature ever recorded at the station since 1881, and the second highest ever temperature ever recorded in the country.
Dublin wasn’t the only one facing the heat, however, as eight other weather stations recorded their hottest temperature ever since records began.
The nine stations are the Casement Aerodrome, in Dublin (record length 58 years) with 31.9 degrees, Mount Dillon in Roscommon with 31.4 degrees, Gurteen in Tipperary with 31.0 degrees, Ballyhaise in Cavan with 30.8 degrees, Athenry in Galway and Dunsany in Meath with 30.5 degrees, Mullingar in Westmeath with 30.4 degrees and Dublin Airport with 29.6 degrees.
One station had its highest July daily maximum temperature on record. Shannon Airport in Clare reported a temperature of 30.8 degrees, breaking a 76 year record.
Rainfall was below average across the country, with the lowest numbers recorded in the south of the country.
Despite the heat, sunshine totals were below their LTA nearly everywhere in the country.
The highest number of daily sunshine hours recorded last month was 15.7 hours at Johnstown Castle in Wexford on Sunday, 10 July.
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