It’s official. The summer of 2009 was another washout with every part of the country getting higher rainfall than normal.
It was the third wet summer in a row though not as wet as 2007 or 2008.
It was the wettest summer since records began in Valentia in Co Kerry in 1866.
It is traditionally the wettest weather station in Ireland and recorded a phenomenal 614 mms of rain (25 inches) during June, July and August, more than twice the average rainfall.
Mullingar had its wettest summer on record with nearly twice the average amount of rain and more than twice the average amount of rain fell on Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford.
Despite the rainfall, it was on the whole an average summer. Temperatures everywhere, with the exception of Cork Airport, were above normal, as were sunshine levels.
The north and north-west had a better than average summer. The Poulter Index, a formula which measures rainfall, temperature, wind speeds and sunshine, was above average at Belmullet and Malin Head weather stations.
At Dublin’s Phoenix Park station and Birr in Co Offaly the Poulter Index indicated it was an average summer though it hardly felt that way with all the rain.
Dublin actually experienced a better than average August with sunshine and temperatures slightly above normal and rainfall below average. It was the only place in the country in August that experienced below average levels of rainfall.