The Irish winter just passed was wetter and warmer than normal with temperatures exceeding long-term averages for the sixth season in a row, according to new figures from Met Éireann. The fresh data suggest that the national mean winter temperature was 6.58 degrees, which is 1.21 degrees above the average recorded between 1961 and 1990 and 0.58 degrees higher than the average recorded between 1991 and 2020. The figures suggest that average rainfall was 113 per cent of the norm, making it the 17th wettest winter since records began. The wet winter in the midlands, south and east was due to a south-shifted jet stream and a succession of slow-moving low pressure systems that brought repeated frontal rainbands from the south. December was mixed with Atlantic low pressure dominating the first two-thirds, bringing mild, wet and sometimes windy conditions.

Source: The Irish Times March 04, 2026 22:49 UTC