This year will be the warmest year on record for Ireland, beating the previous warmest year of 2022, with indications that next year is likely to be even warmer, concludes Met Éireann’s Provisional State of the Irish Climate Report 2023.
“Ireland has seen a remarkable year in climate terms with rainfall and warming at unprecedented levels at times. These record-breaking extremes have knock-on consequences to much of society. Past weather events are no longer a reliable indicator of future weather events, but knowing this allows us to better plan and adapt to our changing climate,” said Keith Lambkin, head of climate services at Met Éireann.
For the first time, Ireland’s annual average temperature is greater than 11 degrees, based on records going back 124 years – 2022 was the previous warmest year on record at nearly 10.9 degrees, narrowly beating 2007 by just 0.1 degree.
Ireland is warming in line with global patterns, which are directly linked to rising carbon emissions caused by human activities throughout the planet – with burning of fossil fuels the single biggest contributory factor. With warmer temperatures comes higher and often more intense rainfall and increased likelihood of extreme weather events.
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Throughout Ireland over the past year, a series of records were broken. 2023 saw the warmest June with above 16 degrees as the average temperature for the first time, while March and July were the wettest on record.
For the first time in 23 years, four months of the year were within their top five warmest months on record (the average stays between one and two months every year since the year 2000).
September 2023 was the third warmest September on record with rare heatwaves – the highest temperature of the year at 29.1 degrees occurred on Friday, September 8th at Lullymore Nature Centre, Co Kildare.
“Never before have we had a year where we have broken records for two months having the wettest months ever,” Mr Lambkin added.
He said 23 of the last 24 years have been “well above normal” for high temperatures with the only exception being 2010 due to the “Big Freeze”.
Mr Lambkin said the El Niño effect is impacting the temperature in Ireland and will continue to do so for much of next year. The naturally occurring circulation pattern in the South Pacific is typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere which last occurred in 2018-2019.
With increased warming in Ireland comes a higher risk of extreme weather, he confirmed, which in the longer term included heavier precipitation and heatwaves during the summer period.
The report confirms January 2023 observed the lowest temperature of the year with -7.2 degrees, on Tuesday, January 17th at Lullymore Nature Centre.
Other highlights include:
- February 2023 was ranked the fifth mildest and the sixth driest February.
- April 2023 saw Storm Noa bring storm-force winds and waves to up 17.3m on the Kerry and Cork coast.
- May 2023 was ranked second warmest May.
- Significant flooding during Storm Betty occurred in August.
- October 2023 was the second wettest month of year. Cork Airport recorded its highest October rainfall, with 222 per cent of October’s 1981-2020 long-term average. Storm Babet caused significant flooding.
- November saw more rainfall and flooding.
- Eleven named storms during the year, and three named storms in December – Elin, Fergus and Gerrit.
It has been over a century since the coldest March (1919), April (1922), May (1923), July (1922), August (1912), September (1918) and November (1919).
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