Rainfall in Westmeath trebled in December


Those affected by flooding won’t need reminding, but December was exceptionally wet, with Westmeath getting drenched by almost three times the average amount of rainfall for the month.
Met Eireann’s monthly report on the weather in December revealed rainfall totals were at 290% of the monthly average at its station in Mullingar.
Another unusual feature of this month was its unseasonal warmth - temperatures recorded at the station in Mullingar were 2.7 degrees Celsius higher than the average for Decembers between 1981 and 2010. At one Met Eireann station, Phoenix Park in Dublin, it was the warmest December since records began at the site in 1855.
The year was wetter than normal almost everywhere in Ireland, with Mullingar’s rainfall coming in at 24% higher than the yearly average.