After one of the wettest summers on record, September was drier and sunnier than normal.
In fact, on September 7th, weather stations at Shannon airport and Mullingar recorded their sunniest September day in over 50 years. Malin Head and Rosslare both enjoyed their sunniest September since 2002.
Met Éireann's records show that rainfall totals were just over half the normal amount in many places, but at no station were they as low as the very dry September of 2002.
There were between six and 12 wet days last month, depending on the area. This was about half of the normal number for September.
While the first half of the month was warm, temperatures fell sharply in the past fortnight.
"Unusually for September there was widespread ground frost on the 19th and in the period 26th to 27th," according to the Met Éireann weather summary.
Last Thursday, the Birr weather station recorded its lowest air and ground temperatures since records began.
The Knock airport station recorded some of the worst weather of the month.
It had the highest total rainfall, at 85mm, compared with 36mm at Cork airport.
It also recorded the lowest average monthly temperature of 12.3 degrees. This compared with a Mediterranean-like 23.5 degrees in Kilkenny.
