Met Éireann confirmed the worst suspicions of umbrella sellers yesterday when it declared last month to be one of the warmest, sunniest and driest Aprils on record.
April was once famed for its showers which brought the flowers, but the month gone by only recorded between two and six wet days. Almost all of this paltry amount of rain occurred between the 21st and 25th of the month. Some weather stations did not receive any measurable rainfall until April 22nd.
The northwest was the only exception to the rule with Met Éireann's Belmullet station recording 4 per cent less rain than normal.
While it was still a reduction in rainfall, it was a virtual downpour compared with the rain measured at Casement Aerodrome station in Dublin. It recorded just 11 per cent of normal rainfall, making it the driest April since records began there in 1964.
The average April temperature of between 10 and 11.5 degrees was more typical of May weather, according to Met Éireann.
It was the warmest April on record almost everywhere, including stations at Birr, Malin Head and Dublin, where records began more than 100 years ago.
In fact the weather station in Phoenix Park recorded an average temperature that was a full degree higher than its previous all-time high recorded in 1865, and more recently 1987.
Shannon airport recorded the hottest day of the month when it reached 22.2 degrees last Saturday. It also had the highest average monthly temperature of 11.6 degrees. This was the warmest since records began there in 1945.
The sun seldom stopped shining last month, making for the sunniest April on record almost everywhere. The southeast enjoyed its sunniest April since records began in 1967 with the Rosslare station clocking up 243 hours of sunshine.
While it may have received a good drenching, Belmullet also recorded the sunniest day of the month, with 14.1 hours of sunshine last Thursday.
Last month's very dry conditions led to outbreaks of gorse fires in many parts of the country.
The good news is set to continue this week with the dry and settled weather expected to last up to at least Saturday. Met Éireann is forecasting temperatures of 19 to 22 degrees in inland areas.
