September??

Throughout the whole of Summer it has been predicted here that September would bring a lot of dry warm weather. This may be still the case, however the first week will NOT bring any dry days to Britain or Ireland. Apart from some heat in the Southeast of England on 1st September the rest of the first week will be unsettled with wind and rain or showers. It is the period of 7th to 21st September that most forecasters are keeping their eyes peeled to. There are signs of a strong High Pressure Intensifying in these days but whether it breaks the Low Pressure stronghold over Ireland is difficult to tell because this pattern has become so established. There are 2 possibilities

1. High makes meandering apperances and rain interrupts occasionally
Confidence 50%

2. High Pressure becomes firmly established. Little or no Rain.
Confidence 20%

As usual weathergossip will continue to bring you updates...

Summer 2009 - Another Wet one

The final results of Summer 2009 are yet to come in but if we look at the results at my own weather station in sligo we can see it was a wet and mild Summer. Temperatures in Sligo were 1degrees above nrmal. Rainfall was 120per cent of average except in July when it was twice the normal and the wettest for 50 years in parts of the East and South. Winds were not such a strong feature except the number of breezy or windy days inceased in August as you would expect. Heatwaves were rare except for a 2 week spell at the start of June and a short period in July at start. The highest temperature of the Summer in Sligo was 24.7c the lowest was 9.0c. The highest wind gust was 43mph and the highest rainfall in a day was 28.4mm on 23rd August.

A Wet Weekend Gone!....and more to come!!?

Rainfall totals for the Western half of Ireland for 22/23rd August ranged from 25mm in the Northwest to 45mm in the Southwest. And we're not out of the woods just yet either. Some further heavy rain (30mm) is forecast for Wednesday and then some more wet windy weather on Friday 28th (10mm). After this the signs point to a slight improvement especially in the South. In Sligo there were 28.4mm of rain at the weathergossip weather station making it the wettest day here since the new station was set up in May, therefore Sunday 23rd August will probably go down as Sligo's wettest day of Summer 2009. The warmest day of 24.7c will now not be beaten unless something freak happens in September but long term weather forecasts are still predicting a mainly dry September for Ireland and the UK.

Hurricane Bill hits Ireland!!!!

Well its not that dramatic. But on August 26th the remains of Hurricane Bill will pass very close to the North Coast of Ireland with the potential for some strong winds here for a time. There may be gusts of 50 to 60mph. There will be a close eye kept on this to see how its track towards the US develops. It is forecast to sweep away from the East coast of the US and track past Newfoundland and toward our shores by the middle of next week.

Remaining unsettled

Inspite of some valiant attempts by High Pressure to establish itself over Ireland over the past few weeks the Low Pressures continue to be the dominant force as Lows stream down from Greenland and Iceland and High Pressures to the North of this encourage their movement over the British Isles. The following few weeks are now looking like continuing unsettled with windy and wet with some sunshine in between rain each day. Will it ever end? It seems not at present. The final hope is that High over Scandanavia or Azores will make its presence felt over Ireland during September but even this seems more like hope now than possibility. But weathergossip will keep you up to date with all the latest changes.

Late August Reprieve???

Is there finally a reprieve from all the unsettled weather. Well it is hard to say. However models now show pressure rising in late August bringing a welcome improvement in the weather with temperatures in the 20s. This depends on a lot of things and weather patterns change a lot but from the last week of August onwards things look better. The thing is tomorrow I could look at the weather models and they will show rain. That is how delicate these models are. Think of getting a glass of water then putting a drop of Ribena in it and stirring it a little and thats our weather(the purple being rain!!)

Quieter August on Offer

August overall, will be a much quieter month than its wet predecessor. Temperatures are currently in the range 16 to 19c and this will probably be the daily average over the month. There will however be some wet and windy days too and this weekend is looking a bit Autumnal for Friday and Saturday especially. Rainfall for the month will be much less than Julys record breaking figures.However the North and West will probably see more rain and less in the way of sunshine than the South and East.

July Weather Summary Ireland

Apart from a short spell of dry weather between the 7th and 9th, rain or showers were recorded on eachday during July, resulting in record high monthly totals at some stations. The weather pattern of theprevious two summers was repeated, with Atlantic depressions tracking over or close to Ireland,producing substantial falls of rain at times, with frequent thunderstorms. The north and northwest ofthe country fared relatively well, however; in these areas the lowest rainfall totals were recorded and bothmean temperatures and sunshine amounts were well above normal. Over twice the normal July rainfalltotals were recorded over most parts of the country, with more than three times the normal amount inparts of Leinster and Munster. It was the wettest July for over 50 years in many places and the wettest onrecord at a number of stations, including Valentia Observatory, where records began more than acentury ago. Dublin (Phoenix Park)’s total of 122mm was its highest for July since 1936, while JohnstownCastle’s total of 222mm represents 389% of its normal July fall. Most stations recorded between 19 and25 wetdays during the month (days with 1mm or more rainfall), twice the normal range for July ofbetween nine and 13. There was localised flooding in both eastern and western areas on the 2ndfollowing severe thunderstorms; Dublin Airport’s value of 42mm on this day was its highest on recordfor July. Temperatures showed little variation during the month and were near or a little above normalthroughout. Many stations recorded their highest values on either the 1st or 2nd, but at a number ofstations the temperature did not rise above 20°C on any day. Despite the very high rainfall totals,sunshine amounts were above normal generally, with many days having sunny mornings and earlyafternoons, before the development of showers. Sunshine totals were highest in the north and northwestof the country, where Belmullet’s total of 188 hours was its highest for July since 1982.