Highest December temperatures in six decades recorded in Ireland

Ireland, like most of the world, uses Celsius temperatures.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/highest-december-temperatures-in-six-decades-recorded-1.2469735

Ronan McGreevy
Dec. 17, 2015

Ireland may be on course to have the mildest December on record, according to the latest weather statistics.

To date Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry has recorded a monthly average temperature of 10.5 degrees, surpassing the record of 10 degrees (50F) set in December 1921.

It has been so warm that early daffodils have been blooming in west Cork since mid-November and have not stopped.

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Shannon Airport’s current average temperature for the month at 9.7 degrees (49.4F) is way above the record December mean of 8.9 degrees (48F) recorded in 1974 . Similarly Cork Airport has a mean temperature so far of 8.7 degrees, the record being 8.4 degrees recorded in1988.

Dublin Airport and Phoenix Park are also very close to their historic highs. The mean temperature at the Phoenix Park of 8.3 degrees is just 0.1 degrees below the record high for the month recorded in 1857.

Climatologist Aidan Murphy stressed that the second half of December is normally colder than the first half of the month and it is too early to say if any records will be broken. However he said “these are exceptional temperatures for the time of year”.

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Elsewhere Britain’s Met Office has forecast that global temperatures in 2016 are likely to be as warm or even warmer than in 2015, which will be the warmest on record. “This forecast suggests that by the end of 2016 we will have seen three record, or near-record years in a row for global temperatures,” it said in a statement.