November Among Rainest Ever In Ireland: Relatively Dry Dublin Airport Got 3X Normal Amounts

[hatrack]

NOVEMBER WAS one of the wettest months ever recorded in Ireland. Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry, which has been keeping records since 1866, recorded the highest rainfall total ever for a month. A total of 360mm (15in) of rain fell there last month.

It is already the wettest year ever recorded at Valentia with a month to go and other weather stations are likely to post similar record levels of rainfall for the year. Every weather station with the exception of Belmullet and Malin Head recorded rainfall totals of at least twice the average for November which is traditionally a wet month anyway.

Even Dublin airport, which recorded the lowest monthly rainfall total in the State of 171mm, still had nearly three times the normal amount of rain for the month.

The worst day was November 19th when 50mm fell in places, but the 1st, the 16th and the 29th were also extremely wet days. The deluge is reflected in figures for some of the places worst affected by flooding. Met Éireann has calculated that the 210mm of rain which fell in Athlone during the first 25-day period in November was a once-in-163-year event while the equivalent rainfall of 313.8mm in Galway was a once-in-122-year event and the 126.7mm which fell between November 15th and 20th in the city only happens roughly every 300 years.

EDIT

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1202/1224259892767.html

[gateley]

1. Hmmmm. Although not as dramatic, Seattle got more rainfall in November,

too: Normal is 5.90, we got 8.96. I wonder how many other areas experienced enough of an increase to make it noteworthy -- or in the case of Ireland, newsworthy!