August brought a dramatic change to our weather as the rains poured down
Wet, wet, wet is the image we have in our minds for the year 2019 but up until August, it had been a relatively dry affair with a good Summer. Things though, changed dramatically after The Races. FRANCIS FARRAGHER looks back on the weather vagaries of last year.
2019 – a year that had been generally drier on average for its first seven months – took a seriously wet turn through the month of August, a trend that continued through December and now into the first month of 2020.
Annual rainfall for the Met Éireann weather station in Athenry for 2019 came in at 1,426.8mms (56.2 inches) – significantly higher than the average figure of 1,193mms or 46.9 inches.
While sometimes memory can play tricks as regards weather conditions, the Summer rainfall figures for Athenry were under the average for April, May, June and July.
However, August brought a far different outlook to our weather pattern with Athenry turning out to be one of the wettest places in Ireland through our eighth month.
Athenry took a particular pounding in the early days of the month and especially so in the three day period from August 4th to 6th, when a whopping 89.2mms (3.5 inches) of rain fell there.
On Sunday, August 4, 26.4mms. (over an inch) of rainfall was recorded at the Met Éireann station just outside the town; on the following Bank Holiday Monday the figure was 22mms.; while Tuesday the 6th, brought a real deluge with 40.6mms of precipitation.
Almost 300mms (297.3) or 11.7 inches of rainfall was recorded at the Athenry Met Éireann through the 31 days of August, a statistic that was bad news for grain farmers across the region.
September – with the notable exception of the Ploughing Championships (17th to 19th) – was also quite a wet month with over 185mms. of rainfall (7.3 inches) recorded in Athenry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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