Week 26 - Weather

After the drought of March and April, the plots are now close to being saturated! There was no rain today, but in the past 7 days, over 35mm of rain fell in the area and I suspect that we got even more at the plots. We should install some measuring equipment to get more accurate local readings as the weather, especially rainfall, can be so localised.

This map of Ireland from the Met Éireann web site shows the amount of rainfall for the past week as a percentage of what we would normally expect (the garden is located in Cloughjordan in the middle of the island - close to the 274% figure). It has been a very rainy period with less than half of the sunshine that we would normally expect.

This diagram show how much rainfall would be needed to provide the soil with as much water as it could hold (without draining excess away). With a figure of 6mm near Cloughjordan (middle of the map) if the rain continues it will start to saturate the soil, affecting plant growth. Luckily there is better weather on the way - though not great conditions for this time of year.

May Weather

The weather was warm and sunny, for the most part, but more unsettled than April and generally drier that usual, especially at the beginning of the month, continuing the dry conditions that have been affecting the growing conditions since the middle of March.

A total of 53mm of rain fell (recorded at the closest weather station in Birr), which is slightly less than normal. The mean temperature for the month was only slightly above normal at 11 degrees C. The mean soil temperature was almost 2 degree higher than normal at 14.5C and the total amount of solar radiation for the month (intensity of energy from the sun including overcast days) was slightly higher than normal (53560 Joules/sqcm). The wind levels for the month were normal and there were a few episodes of hail. All of these conditions affect the growth rate of the plants, and the limiting factor was still the lack of water in the soil.

In the temperature charts above (extracted from the Met Éireann summary) the maximum temperature ranged in the mid teens for most of the month, but the low temperature dropped significantly at the end of the month, creating frost conditions on the night of May 29! This was a very late frost, and hit many of the potatoes hard. Fortunately we had not yet planted any other tender plants.

The top graphs shows the general lack of any heavy rainfalls for the whole month, with much of the rain evaporating from the surface before it could seep in and replenish the moisture in the soil. The bottom graph shows a couple of spells of strong sunshine!

April Weather

April was unusually dry and settled, weather that we would normally get in May and June! Met Éireann called it the "Warmest and sunniest April on record; dry for most of the month!"

Less than 22mm or rain fell in the area during the entire month, about 40% of what we would expect. The mean temperature was 11 degrees C, more than 3 degrees above average and the mean soil temperature was 13.3 degrees C, 4 degrees above normal. The total amount of solar radiation for the month (intensity of energy from the sun including overcast days) was at least 20% higher than normal (47390 Joules/sqcm) which is almost as much sun as we would expect in June!

These conditions were great for the mood of gardeners, but not great for the allotment plots as we didn't have enough rain and we have yet to get any access to water! As a result, the germination and growth of many seedlings was slow or non-existent. The soil became exceptionally dry throughout the month, which is very unusual for this time of the year.

The weather was generally warm but we did have frost conditions at several times throughout the month. Although frost tender potatoes had been planted in the last week of March, they had not sprouted enough to show any damage early in the month and the frost conditions on the 26th did not seem to affect the allotments. The cool conditions probably delayed some of the growth and germination early in the month, adding to the slow growth due to the lack of water.

These two graphs show the exceptionally dry and sunny conditions throughout most of April. We did not receive any rain at all until the 22nd and the 24th was the first time in more that a month that we got more than a drizzle!

March Weather

The weather for March was mild and sunny but with a lot of frosty nights, and very little rain towards the end of the month.

58mm of rain fell this month (recorded at the closest weather station in Birr) which is very close to normal conditions, but most of it in the first three weeks. The mean air and soil temperatures for the month were slightly above normal at 6.7 degrees C and 6.9 degrees C respectively. The total amount of solar radiation for the month (intensity of energy from the sun including overcast days) was slightly higher than normal (26340 Joules/sqcm). These monthly mean conditions hide fact that the first half of the month was wetter and cloudier and the last 12 days were drier and sunnier than normal.

In the temperature charts above (extracted from the Met Éireann summary) the maximum temperature throughout Ireland dropped considerably from the 18th to the 21st when all of the precipitation was snow or hail, and there were ground frosts at night throughout the month.

These charts show how little rain came in the latter part of the month.

February Weather

The weather at the beginning of February was cold, dry and sunny with the remainder of the month being warm with reasonable amounts of rain and sunshine.

Just over 60mm of rain fell in the area during February (recorded at the closest weather station in Birr) only slightly more than normal. The mean air temperature of 5.9 degrees C for the month was almost 1 degree higher than normal, as was the mean soil temperature at 5.2 degrees C. The total amount of solar radiation for the month (intensity of energy from the sun including overcast days) was slightly higher than normal (12672 Joules/sqcm). The wind was generally light and there were several periods of snow and hail throughout the month.

In the temperature charts above (extracted from the Met Éireann summary) the cold first week and warmer conditions for the rest of the month can be seen. The soil warmed considerably, creating better sowing conditions for the beginning of March

A lot of the monthly precipitation fell as snow and sleet towards the end a very sunny first week following more than two weeks without any precipitation at all.

January Weather

Work on the allotment plots has not started yet, in fact there were still no plans to have fixed allotments at this point, but the weather in January will affect the early part of the growing season, particularly with respect to soil temperature and moisture content.

January was mild, very windy and wet for the first 22 days of the year, but became dry and cold for the last part of the month.


Unfortunately these charts do not show a location close to Cloughjordan, but they give an indication of the type of weather patterns throughout Ireland.