IN A month when the “R” word was mentioned for the first time in 25 years, it was another more familiar “R” word that dominated the weather.
Weather conditions in June seemed to reflect all the talk of recession, as it was a washout for much of the country. The sunny southeast was worst affected. Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford had more than twice the average rainfall for the month of June. It also had the highest one-day rainfall for 50 years when 56mms (2.2 inches) fell on June 21st.
Mid-summer’s day turned out to be the wettest day of the month with an average of more than 25mms (one inch) of rain in most places.
Nearly every part of the country had higher rainfall than normal. It was the wettest June for 10 years at Shannon (170 per cent of average rainfall for the month) and for six years at Belmullet (174 per cent), while Valentia observatory, traditionally the wettest place in the country, had 168 per cent of average rainfall for the month.
The silver lining for the main Dublin weather stations is that it was significantly less wet than last June, which was one of the worst on record for the capital.
However, rainfall this June at Dublin airport (136 per cent of average) and Casement Aerodrome (133 per cent) was well above average.
Though sunshine levels were about normal, it was the coolest June for between six and nine years in most places.
Unfortunately, there is no respite in sight from the bad weather. The outlook is for the showery conditions to continue up to and including the weekend.
Met Éireann forecaster Peter Lennon said: “It is in a pattern where it is staying very unsettled. I don’t think there is too much good news out there.
“June is the first of our summer months as we define it. We really have to wait and see, but last summer in terms of rainfall was really wet, particularly over the eastern half of the country. It would take some beating.”
Tomorrow’s weather: page 30
