This article is from page 11 of the 2012-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
DESPITE flooding in many parts of the county, 2012 will go down as a the record-breaking year for sunshine in County Clare.
Friday, May 25, and Saturday, May 26, have been recognised as possibly the finest ever 48 hours seen in the county during the month of May.
According to new data released by Met Éireann, the highest temperature recorded anywhere in Ireland last month was recorded at Met Éireann Shannon Airport station which recorded a high 27.8 degree Celsius on May 25. This was the highest May temperature recorded at the Shannon Airport station since it was opened in 1938.
The longest day of sunshine was also recorded at Shannon Airport on May 26 when a total of 15.6 hours of sunshine were recorded. This was the joint highest daily sunshine rate to be recorded at Shannon Airport in the station’s history.
For once, the good weather seems to have favoured the west coast over the east with both rain levels and temperatures indicating a much better month on the Atlantic coast. An example of this was the highest average temperature for the month, 12 degrees Celsius, being recorded at Shannon Airport, compared to the lowest average was recorded at Dublin Airport where the mean was just 9.6 degrees.
The rain also seems to have stayed clear of the Banner County last month with the Shannon Airport station recording the lowest months rain total in Ireland at just 38.8mm. This amounts to less than 60 per cent of the normal average rainfall recorded at Shannon Airport in the month of May. This amounts to just more than half of the rain that fell at Met Éireann’s Newport station where 74.9mm were recorded.
Nationally, rainfall was below average nearly everywhere, with the exception of most stations along the East coast which reported above average rainfall. These stations all attributed at least a quarter of their monthly rainfall total to the heavy rainfall on May 1.