Wettest August in places since floods of 1986

The recent torrential rains have made this August the wettest in Dublin and much of the east and south since Hurricane Charlie hit the country in 1986, according to Met Éireann.

Just under 110 mm of rain has been recorded at Dublin Airport so far this month. With heavy rains predicted for the next week, that figure could get close to the August 1986 level of 158.7 mm, when the country was hit by the ferocious winds and floods of Hurricane Charlie.

However, we are not in midst of, or about to experience, hurricane weather.

"It's been a bit of an east/west divide. West Munster, Connacht and Ulster have been drier than normal, but the rest of Munster and almost all of Leinster has been very, very wet," said Met Éireann forecaster Mr Pat Clarke.

Cork has had its wettest August in five years with 164.5 mm recorded for the month so far, a level 183 per cent higher than the average rainfall for the area.

The sunny south-east hasn't lived up to its title, with 116 mm of rain in Kilkenny.

However, in the west the picture has been a lot brighter, with 38.8 mm in Belmullet, Co Mayo, and 48.1 mm in Co Donegal - about half the normal rainfall for the time of year.

"People tend to forget that August is normally a wettish month, but it's also a warm month. Though it might sound contradictory, even though it has been so wet, the sunshine values at the end of the month might come in as normal," Mr Clarke said.

The conditions of recent weeks have been very far removed from the heatwave weather of last August. Then, only 14.4 mm of rain was recorded at Dublin Airport for the whole month. Kilkenny barely registered a drop, with just 1.1 mm recorded.