Winter was mild after coldest December on record

THE WINTER of 2010-2011 will be forever remembered for the coldest December on record, but it was surprisingly mild after that.

Temperatures for December, January and February, the months that constitute winter as far as Met Éireann is concerned, were below normal for all stations, but that was mostly accounted for by the freezing weather in December.

Overall mean temperature values over the winter were between 2.5 degrees and 5.8 degrees. The range was between 0.5 degrees colder on average at Malin Head to 2 degrees colder at Shannon airport.

Although December saw two particularly severe cold spells, the season was much warmer on average than last winter when temperatures were colder throughout the season. That winter was the coldest since 1962-1963.

January 2011 was slightly colder than normal, but February was milder than normal everywhere. It was also considerably wetter, with Claremorris, Co Mayo, having the wettest February since 1955. Nearby Knock had the warmest February since 1998.

The lowest temperatures this winter coincided with the Christmas getaway between December 21st and 25th.

The lowest recorded temperature of the winter was on Christmas Day at Casement Aerodrome, where the temperature fell to –15.7 degrees, the lowest since records began there in 1958. Minimum air temperatures fell to –15 degrees at some stations around that cold spell.The heaviest daily falls of rain were on St Stephen’s Day and December 27th, when the dramatic rise in temperatures caused pipes to burst and led to widespread water shortages.

Overall, it was a drier winter than average everywhere, especially in the south, where Cork airport had only two-thirds of its normal winter rainfall.

Sunshine totals for the season were above normal everywhere, reflecting the cold, clear conditions in December.