Ireland Has Become 'Warmer, Wetter, And Sunnier' Over The Last 30 Years - Met Éireann

Ireland has become warmer, wetter, and sunnier over the last three decades, according to Met Éireann.

According to a new survey gathered by the forecaster, an increase has been seen in average air temperatures, rainfall and sunshine in the last 30 years, from 1991 to 2020.

In those years, rainfall has increased by 7%, with the biggest rise coming in the north and west. While the east of the country was wetter, it was not to the same extent. Winter and autumn were the wettest months, according to these reports, with Spring being the direst. 

Average air temperatures in Ireland have also increased across 1991-2020. Temperatures have increased by 0.7C to 9.8C. In other words, the temperatures are 0.7C higher than the previous decade, an increase which was observed across all four seasons.

October reportedly saw the lowest temperature rise, an increase of just 0.2C.

There was also a 5% increase in the amount of hours of sunshine across the last 30 years, with 63 hours of sunshine reported annually. May was the reported sunniest month, with the greatest temperature increase. 

According to Met Éireann, these changes are consistent with previously published projections on the impact of climate change in Ireland. 

Met Éireann Climatologist and Project Lead Mary Curley has admitted that future projections are predicting warmer and wetter weather for Ireland in the next few years, with events set to become more extreme.

"We are seeing these increases in temperature. Rainfall is a little bit more variable. So last year, we had our record breaking high temperature and not a lot of rain. Whereas this year, it seems to be raining all the time", she said. 

She also said that Ireland ought to prepare for more extreme weather events in the future.