Why was Winter so Mild?

Just why was this Winter so mild in Ireland a lot of people are asking?

• High Pressure Remained to the South bringing Southwesterlies
• Low Pressure was much further North than 2010
• Increased cloud cover at night due to moist airflow
• Warm Sea Temperatures
• Winds coming in from the Atlantic
• Siberian Air just failing to reach our shores
• Windy weather at times prevented frost
• Lack of mobility at times meant prolonged mild spells
• Lack of Cold Weather in Europe until February

Sunny days were rare this Winter in Ireland

Very Mild Weather this Spring

So far this Spring has started on a remarkably mild note with a temperature of 14.4c already recorded in Sligo and we are not even at the end of February yet. Nationwide a temperature of 15.5c has been recorded in North Cork although these temperatures are well below the February record of 18.3c.

Mild Weather with temperatures of 15.5c recorded

There will be a couple of more attempts of at least getting near to this record or setting a station record next Monday and Tuesday though the mild weather looks set to end on March 3rd.


There after it is too early to say whether March is going to bring cold weather but it will probably bring more seasonable temperatures of in or around 8 or 9c all the way up to Saint Patrick's Day.

Cold February

February has turned out to be quite cold so far and some stations are only averaging just over 0c due to severe night time frosts. Of course Ireland has escaped the severe weather of Europe that has left many people dead with blizzards and wintry conditions there bringing temperatures of minus 36 and lower in some rural spots.


Will we continue to escape. What looks like happening is that the cold weather in Europe is going to come up against the mild Atlantic weather just to the West of Ireland. Despite this most of the precipitation that falls looks like being rain as it will fall along the Western half of Ireland where the milder temperatures will be. Here it will be 6 or 7c though it will drop to 4 or 5c at times.


Further East it is drier and colder and if any of the rain makes inroads across the country it could turn to snow and this will cause all sorts of problems with transport and heating. It looks like a lot of dry cold weather will extend to Ireland around the 8th February so conditions should not be too bad.


Further on into the month there are the possibilities of one or two more snowy episodes mid month from the North and East and certainly Britain is going to be affected by these. In fact in the UK they could see a lot of snow accumulations in the next two to three weeks with temperatures below average there for most of the time.


Here in Ireland the temperatures will vary to just slightly below average in the West to below average in the East. There will be sharp to severe ground frosts too and night time temperatures will be between 0 and minus 5c at times. If there is any snow cover these temperatures could drop lower.