Mild March

Cloudy but mild March

March has turned out to be very mild hasnt it? In fact most of 2012 has been mild in Ireland apart from one or two very brief cold spells and you could count on two hands the number of severe frosts that we have experienced. The weather is set to get cool for the Saint Patricks Day festivities but after that the Southwesterlies will return again with their mild weather and this time temperatures could climb up to 17 or 18c. This all depends on the amounts of sunshine and as we have seen so far in 2012 this has been scarce.

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.

Colder for End of January

The Long Range Weather Forecast for Ireland is certainly containing a lot more in the way of colder episodes than the weeks just gone. 


It may not be cold all of the time but it will be cold enough for snow at higher levels quite a few times and this risk is going to extend to lower levels at times temporarily especially in the West and North of Ireland and more especially during the night. 


Frost could also be a problem if the temperatures are low at night for a sustained period and they will be more severe if there is any lying snow which acts as a coolant and brings down the temperature. 


Keep up with the latest here 

Winter Storms Cause Havoc

Some extremely stormy weather hit Ireland on January 3rd 2012 with a gust of 91knots recorded at Malin Head courtesy of Met Eireann. Sligo saw winds in excess of 65 miles per hour bringing down power lines in areas like Geevagh and Cliffoney and leaving a lot of homes in these areas without power.


Met Eireann have said that it was the windiest spell of weather since the storm of Stephens Day in 1998.


Over 1800 homes were still without power 24 hours after the storm hit but the ESB are working hard to restore power to these areas mainly along the Atlantic Seaboard.

Birds struggled in the High Winds

What is in the forecast for the coming few days well initially it continues windy and wet but towards the end of the week it will get a lot calmer and much milder as temperatures reach 11 or 12c and High Pressure builds to the South of Ireland and this will bring a lot more settled weather for most of the middle part of January.