UK Met Office get Flak

The UK Met Office previously predicted a "barbeque Summer" which here at weathergossip has slightly downgraded to a Summer of warm spells interspersed with cooler periods. Now most of the warmth seems to be behind us. I would sympathize with Met Office as the are a useful and accurate resource for all weather forecasting and they did say it would only be a "65%" chance of a good Summer. It questions whether it is a good idea to offer a seasonal forecast when it is in the infancy of its scientific development. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2009/pr20090729.html

No end in sight

The unsettled weather is here to stay. Certainly for all of July and for most of August too. There may be brief interludes of dry days in between but it looks like rain every day at some stage for the rest of July (except maybe Saturday 25th). So far Dublin Airport has had more rain than July 2008 and 3 times its summer average for July.

Weather Rest of July

It will remain cool showery and unsettled until the last few days of July when a High to the West will be trying to sneak in. Ultimately it will not succeed in August though and the cool and showery weather will return. Unfortunate but this is what the weather models are signalling for now for the UK and Ireland.

July Weather Graph

So far July has been characterized by normal temperatures and humid and showery conditions with no real sign of settled conditions. Here is a temperature and pressure graph for Sligo.

Hell Low

Starting this weekend the weather will be taking a turn for the worst for at least a week.
Large totals of Rain are likely in both Ireland and the UK and it will be windy at times too.
As earlier posted July looks like it will not bring the warm sunny weather of June so
the beaches will be empty by the looks of things. Once this Atlantic dominance of lows is established it is very difficult to change so the only hope is that the High to the South takes a notion to push up.

Showery July

A bland old month is forecast for July with rain most days but some warm sun at times too. However the wind direction has changed to a W or NW direction for a while to come. This will mean the South and East will get the higher temperatures now (Not the West) and the North and West will have to settle for the mid to high teens. 27.5c was recorded in Birr and Claremorris on 2nd June and this wont be beat this year, also in England and Wales the near 32c at Wisley now looks like a hard target to beat. Thats because after this bland weather with temperatures hovering around normal ends the nights will already be a little bit longer but you never know.

Thunderstorms strike East/West Coast

Dublin Fire Brigade is appealing to people not to travel this morning unless absolutely necessary after torrential overnight downpours caused widespread flooding. On the Evening of 3rd July Flooding also occurred in Mayo around Castlebar, Westport and Newport.

for more go to this link http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0702/dublin.html

and here http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=21 .

There has been over a months rainfall in Dublin already this month.

June Summary from Met Eireann

The Weather of June 2009: Warm and mainly wet; sunniest June for over 50 years in places 01 July 2009

There were warm and sunny conditions at times during June, but also spells of cool and unsettled weather, producing heavy rain at times. Very warm weather at the beginning and end of the month brought mean monthly air temperatures above normal everywhere, especially in western and southwestern areas. Mean monthly values were between one and two degrees above normal generally and it was the warmest June since 1970 at a number of stations.

However, temperatures fell significantly during the second week; after reaching around 25°C at the start of the month, the maximum temperature in Dublin was below 10°C on the 6th, a day of heavy rain and strong northeasterly winds. The maximum value of 9.4°C at Dublin (Phoenix Park) on this day was its lowest such value for June in well over a century of records at the station.

It was a relatively dry month in parts of the west and north, but rainfall totals were above normal at most stations. Much of the month’s rainfall was recorded on relatively few days, however; at Dublin Airport, for example, over 80% of the month’s total of 65mm was recorded on just two days. Most stations recorded between six and 12 wet days during the month (days with 1mm or more rainfall), compared with the normal range for June of between nine and 15. There were heavy daily falls in places on the 6th, 12th/13th, 16th/17th and 26th, with widespread thunderstorms at times; a tornado was reported near Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, on the 12th. A very localised thunderstorm in the Derrybeg area of County Donegal on the 23rd produced significant flooding in the area; estimated rainfall there of around 50mm within a 3-hour period would be expected to occur once every 100 years.

Sunshine totals were above normal everywhere and it was a particularly sunny month in the west and north, where some stations had their sunniest June since 1957. More than 15 hours of daily sunshine were widely recorded on one or more days in the period 1st to 4th.