*Photograph: Eamon Ward
SHANNON recorded its wettest July in 77 years and unfortunately the unsettled weather is expected to continue into the first half of this month.
Parts of Europe may have been dealing with soaring hot temperatures but July had so much rain throughout Ireland that it was within touching distance of breaking official records.
Six inches of rain (150.3mm) fell at the Shannon Airport weather station during the month of July. This figure would have been much larger on higher ground in the west of the county. Only 20.7mm fell in 2022 but July 2020 was also very wet when 130.6 mm fell. July 14th was the wettest day in Shannon when 27mm of rain fell.
Records were broken at weather stations across the country during July. Shannon experienced its wettest July in 77 years, for Phoenix Park in Dublin it was 82 years and 59 years in Dunsany in Co Meath.
Keith Lambkin, Head of Climate Services Division at Met Éireann explained that there was a number of reasons for the recent wet weather. “We know that because of global warming, a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. There was a report out from Met Éireann last week that looked at the average rainfall over the last 30 years compared to the previous 30 years and we’re seeing that about 7% more rainfall on average is falling.
“Really when it comes to this July, the really driving factor behind that rain was really the meteorological setup, the jet stream, which is a big influencer of the type of weather we get here in Ireland, was to the South of Ireland for quite a persistent long time.
“That has allowed consistent low-pressure systems all throughout July to pass over Ireland, bringing quite a lot of rain. It’s the same meteorological setup actually that’s allowing that high pressure system to establish in Europe, creating all those problems that we see over there as well”.
This unsettled weather is due to continue into August, he admitted. “So just talking to our forecasters, unfortunately, the dominant feature certainly for the first half of August is for this unsettled weather to continue. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to rain every day, but the jet stream is still expected to be below Ireland into August. So we’d still expect to see that unsettled low pressure systems certainly influencing, the first half of August”.
