Arctic blast

 

Snow on the Reek

This morning, as we travelled inland to Galway, we encountered areas of snow and ice. As we turned back toward the sea, the snow and ice disappeared again, which indicates that the record ocean temperatures are actually protecting us from the extreme cold. Met Éireann's December report states it was mild, dull and relatively dry. I would have classed it as miserable. 

Much of the country's southern half is covered in snow, with some parts in up to a foot. There's no way to deal with that here. I had an MRI recall to attend and that was important to travel for. On the way back home encountered a few sprinkles and the elevated areas of Croagh Patrick and Nephin were white. 

Tonight we are expecting an Arctic blast. Met Éireann has issued an orange warning for extreme cold down to -8C in places for the next few days. We don't expect it to break until Friday but I really don't think it will affect us as much as most of the rest of the country. 

Warnings & Advisories - Today Tuesday 07 January 2025

Today
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09 Jan

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Weather Warnings

• Status: OrangeExtremely cold with widespread severe frost, ice and lying snow.<br /> <br /> Impacts:<br /> <br /> • Dangerous travelling conditions on roads and underfoot<br /> • Travel disruption and delays<br /> • Animal welfare issues

  Status Orange - Low Temperature/Ice warning for Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wicklow, Cavan, Monaghan, Munster, Connacht

  Met Éireann Weather Warning

  Extremely cold with widespread severe frost, ice and lying snow.
  
  Impacts:
  
  • Dangerous travelling conditions on roads and underfoot
  • Travel disruption and delays
  • Animal welfare issues

  Valid: 20:00 Tuesday 07/01/2025 to 10:00 Wednesday 08/01/2025

  Issued: 09:02 Tuesday 07/01/2025

Met Éireann's Climate Statement for 2024 was issued today. Basically, climate weirdness continues to evolve. 

Snow on Nephin

The Climate in 2024

The weather gods seemed to throw more of everything at us this December. It felt like we had more rain, more fog, more snow. more frost, and more fluctuations than last year. Just as I began telling everyone that we hardly get snow here any more, we had three sprinklings of snow and sleet, but missed the big snow event that blanketed the southern part of the country. The one thing we didn't seem to have as much of is wind, although we had plenty. We certainly had more inversions than ever before. 

If you look at the stats for December, we had an average amount of rain but higher-than-average temperatures. The mean temperature for December was 8.2C, which is considerably higher than the LTA.  The annual figures are at least not alarming. La Nina seems to be doing her thing.

Happy 2025! That sounds so surreal. 

Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 04-jan-2025

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2025	7.6												7.6
2024	125.7	197.5	152.5	119.4	48.8	80.7	80.8	257.5	44.1	150.7	143.3	173.7	1574.7
2023	183.2	91.6	188.4	121.1	48.5	77.9	206.8	139.8	142.4	144.7	209.6	293.8	1847.8
2022	98.8	260.4	67.8	84.0	107.0	148.0	59.2	104.1	97.3	233.9	187.5	154.6	1602.6
LTA	166.7	126.5	141.2	96.8	94.7	89.7	100.9	132.5	131.5	176.0	170.4	180.2	1607.1

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2025	3.6												3.6
2024	6.1	7.9	7.9	9.9	13.1	12.9	14.9	14.9	13.6	11.8	9.2	8.2	10.9
2023	6.6	8.0	7.6	9.9	13.3	17.4	14.9	15.8	15.2	11.9	8.7	7.9	11.4
2022	7.2	7.1	8.0	9.9	12.6	13.8	15.9	16.2	n/a	12.2	9.4	5.2	10.7
LTA	6.1	6.1	7.3	9.0	11.5	13.8	15.4	15.4	13.5	10.8	8.3	6.5	10.3

Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2025	n/a
2024	4.2	6.5	6.5	9.5	13.6	14.4	15.8	15.4	13.7	11.2	8.9	7.2	10.6
2023	5.2	6.8	6.6	9.1	13.7	18.6	16.3	16.3	14.7	11.1	7.6	6.7	11.1
2022	6.2	6.2	6.3	9.3	13.2	14.8	16.8	16.6	n/a	11.5	8.4	4.4	10.4
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm² for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2025	951												951
2024	7248	12401	23032	39685	47333	50366	49632	38203	31451	16628	6586	4121	326686
2023	6245	10639	21429	37277	55732	58473	41797	36857	29338	16225	8326	4411	326749
2022	6311	10756	33399	40555	51569	47246	48439	51169	n/a	15988	7869	6167	319468
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2025	0.6												0.6
2024	15.4	18.2	36.0	56.9	74.7	76.7	80.9	60.8	49.0	27.6	14.2	15.6	526.0
2023	14.3	20.9	33.0	56.4	83.3	100.6	70.1	64.4	50.1	26.1	14.2	14.7	548.1
2022	13.7	23.0	47.2	60.6	77.7	76.0	80.4	82.0	n/a	27.2	17.2	9.2	514.2
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2025	0.9												0.9
2024	20.2	25.4	51.9	83.7	104.9	109.8	112.6	88.3	67.8	37.5	18.4	20.0	740.5
2023	18.8	28.2	47.6	81.6	118.2	137.1	99.5	89.1	67.8	35.5	18.4	19.0	760.8
2022	17.9	32.4	66.5	86.8	114.5	109.2	111.1	113.2	n/a	37.0	22.0	11.4	722.0
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Degree Days Below 15.5 Degree Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2024	293	221	234	169	91	89	45	41	77	117	191	228	1796
2023	275	210	246	171	85	18	39	26	53	118	203	237	1681
2022	256	234	235	171	97	63	30	28	N/A	103	185	320	N/A
2021	325	247	236	200	167	79	20	23	40	114	187	245	1883

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Notes on the Data

Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
The ‘LTA’ (referred to within a table) is average for the climatological long-term-average (LTA) reference period 1981-2010.
Data updated daily at Mid-day.
To view the Weather Events for Public Works Contracts data, select a station first, then click the link just below the map.