Spring 2025 was warmest and driest on record, Met Éireann says
The spring of 2025 was Ireland's warmest and sunniest since records began 126 years ago.
An average temperature of 10.62 degrees was recorded across the State, a full 1.5 degrees above the long-term average for the years between 1991 and 2020. The previous warmest spring was recorded in 1945.
Out of the 25 official
Met Éireann
weather stations, 23 recorded their warmest spring. Dunsany in Co Meath had its second warmest and Dublin Airport had its joint third warmest.
Four stations – Oak Park, Co Carlow, Moore Park, Co Cork, Athenry, Co Galway and Casement, Co Dublin – have now had their warmest spring on record for three consecutive years, with two other stations, Roches Point, Co Cork and Markree, Co Sligo, having their warmest spring for two consecutive years.
READ MORE
The meteorological spring months of March, April and May were characterised by long periods of a blocking high-pressure zone which brought a lot of sunshine.
This, along with predominantly easterly winds due to the high-pressure systems often setting up just to the north of Ireland and the UK, led to sea surface temperatures to the south and west of Ireland reaching record highs during April and May.
Spring temperatures ranged from 1.1 degrees above normal at Dublin Airport to 2.2 degrees above normal at Newport, Co Mayo.
The season's highest temperature, 25.9 degrees, was recorded at Athenry on April 30th.
High pressure and clear skies led to all but one weather station in the State having record amounts of spring sunshine, with the exception of Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry, which had its second-sunniest spring on record.
Many places experienced droughts during the spring, with 20 stations having dry spells from April 26th to May 22nd. Eleven stations had absolute droughts – a period of 15 or more consecutive days with less than 0.2mm rain on each - between April 26th and May 22nd.
The percentage of monthly rainfall values ranged from 31 per cent at Roches Point, Co Cork to 104 per cent at Finner, Co Donegal.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Memories of a summer solstice
Sir, – The more I'm extending into my pension years, the less enchanted I've become by the summer solstice, finding it difficult to comprehend why it arrives so early each year now! Be that as it may, there was one summer solstice I thought could never come quickly enough. Mid-summer's day 1969, a Saturday also, was to have heralded the end of the torturous Leaving Cert for me. However, due to Leaving Certificate papers having been 'stolen' from De La Salle School, Churchtown, on June 12th, 1969, I was among the many who had to traipse back to examination halls on Friday, June 27th, and Saturday, June 28th to sit a repeat of the English and Maths exams. Over the years since, the summer solstice has engaged me at times with notable ritual, as in the year I found myself inside the Arctic Circle, while occasionally scarcely registering at all but never without 1969 sending a shiver down my spine. – Yours, etc, READ MORE MICHAEL GANNON, Kilkenny.
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on the summer solstice: your one wild and precious life
The period around the summer solstice, after which the daylight hours will diminish, has always been marked with ceremony and ritual to acknowledge the summer's peak. Whether embracing the legends and traditions of the Hill of Tara, or lighting bonfires in west Donegal to mark St John's Eve, the day before the feast day of St. John the Baptist, or undertaking solstice walks in Kerry, or finding a sunny soundtrack, those celebrating this time of year draw on the interplay of Ireland's pagan and Christian inheritances to pay homage to one of the distinct quarters of the year. Historically, the summer solstice was about the recording of the passage of time, festivals associated with agriculture and farming, fire ashes spread on crops to boost their yield, and for some, a belief that the soul would depart temporarily from the body as the sun stood still. Folklore records the widespread belief in rural Ireland that with every day after the solstice 'the shadows lengthened by a cock-step'. Marking the solstice is not just about giving structure to the year and its progression, but also the elemental need to embrace nature and the open air. It invites us to contemplate our fragilities and our need to be aware of the preciousness and power of what surrounds us. It should bolster a consciousness of our landscape, environment and the life forces running through them; of old creations facing new pressures and the solaces we can find and cherish. The American poet Mary Oliver reminded us of our need not to forget these things in her 1992 poem The Summer Day 'I don't know exactly what a prayer is. READ MORE I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?'
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ireland weather: Hottest day for nearly three years recorded as temperature reaches 29.6 degrees
The hottest day in Ireland since August 2022 has been recorded with a 29.6 degrees in Co Roscommon. Met Éireann said that the value at Mount Dillon this afternoon is the highest since 32.1 degrees was recorded at Durrow, Co Laois on August 13th, 2022. It's the highest June temperature in Ireland since 2018 and also the earliest time a 29 degrees has been seen in Ireland since records began. The previous record was June 26th, 2018. 20/06/2025 - News - Swimmers at Seapoint having fun as the afternoon temperatures rose. Photograph Nick Bradshaw Values of between 25 and 29 degrees were recorded in most inland areas of Ireland. Sea breezes kept temperatures down along south and east coasts. READ MORE The hot weather will linger in eastern parts on Saturday with Dublin expected to get the hottest temperatures of around 25 degrees. Rain will creep into western parts during Saturday afternoon marking the end of the current hot and dry spell. Saturday and Sunday will feel a lot cooler and fresher than of late with the occasional shower. Temperatures will be between 14 and 18 degrees. 20/06/2025 - News - Swimmers at Seapoint cooling down as afternoon temperatures climbed. Photograph Nick Bradshaw Monday will see rain more widespread across the country and that pattern looks like persisting into next week. By Tuesday the sunny conditions will be over, with cloudy conditions, rain and drizzle almost everywhere. A few brighter spells may break through in the north and West at times. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees, in mainly moderate to fresh West to southwest winds, are expected. Met Éireann forecaster Mark Rowe said there is no sign in the immediate future of the hot weather continuing. A temperature of 30.8 degrees was recorded in England on Friday and the UK Met Office is expecting highs of 34 degrees on Saturday sparking off thunderstorms. While the national record for this year was not broken, Friday was the hottest day of the year so far for Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
