Rainfall and temperatures rise throughout Mayo

NEWPORT was the wettest place in Mayo in December, with almost twice the monthly average of rain falling in west Mayo last month.

The Met Éireann rainfall data for 2023 shows that the average annual rainfall recorded in the four weather stations in Mayo was above the long-term-average while the annual temperatures were also above normal.

December was also the wettest in recent years with the Newport weather station in Furnace recording 293.8mm of rainfall, which is the highest recorded rainfall of the four weather stations in Co Mayo.

The deluge of rain which fell in Newport in December eclipsed 2022s figure of 154.6mm of rain and was almost twice the long-term-average figure for the weather station which is 180.2mm for December.

The Knock Airport weather station recorded the next highest level of rainfall for December with 214.3mm of rainfall which well exceeds the long-term-average of 141.1mm.

The Claremorris weather station recorded 205.3mm of rainfall for December while 186mm of rain was recorded at the Belmullet station.

Newport was not only the wettest place in December in Mayo but annual figures for 2023 show that it was also the wettest place by a considerable distance throughout the last 12 months.

The Met Éireann data for the year shows that 1,847.8 mm of rain fell in Newport in 2023 which is well above the annual long-term-average of 1,607.1mm.

Above annual average

The annual rainfall at Knock Airport was also above the annual average with 1,586.3mm of rainfall recorded over the last 12 months. The annual long-term-average for the airport is 1,353.3mm.

The weather station in Claremorris recorded 1,387.5mm of rainfall in 2023 while statistically Belmullet was the driest place with 1,257.7mm of rain falling which is only slightly above the annual long-term-average of 1,244.8mm.

While December was one of the wettest in recent years, it was also warmer than normal with the average temperature for the month recorded at 7.9 degrees Celsius in both Newport and Belmullet. The long-term-average temperature for Newport for December is 6.5 degrees Celsius and 6.7 degrees in Belmullet.

The temperature was colder in the east of the county with the average temperature in Knock Airport at 6.2 degrees Celsius but was still above the long-term-average of 4.3 degrees Celsius for December.

It was slightly warmer in Claremorris where the average temperature was recorded at 7 degrees Celsius which is two degrees warmer than the long-term-average for December.

The annual temperature in Newport for 2023 was recorded as 11.4 degrees Celsius which was slightly warmer than Belmullet where the average temperature was set at 11.3 degrees.

This meant that the temperature in both weather stations was above the annual long-term-average temperature of 10.3 degrees Celsius in Newport and 10.2 in Belmullet.

The average temperature for 2023 at Knock Airport was recorded at 9.9 degrees Celsius while the average in Claremorris was recorded at 10.7 degrees Celsius.