Last month coolest September since 1994 - and some rain records set, too

LAST MONTH was the coolest September since 1994, Met Éireann has said.

Despite a welcome visit from an elusive anticyclone - otherwise known as a big H - from mid-September on, the temperature did not rise above 20 degrees Celsius anywhere in the country, an event that has not happened since 1974.

Some areas in the midlands even experienced a ground frost and air temperatures at Birr got down to 2 degrees on the 24th.

September was also exceptionally wet. Thunderstorms were recorded every day for the first five days of the month somewhere in the country.

In the first six days, Dublin received its normal total rainfall for the month. This brought the capital's total rainfall in 2008 above the amount it normally records in a full year.

The weather station at Dublin airport also broke one of its own records, measuring 43.5mm of rain on the 5th, the most for a single day in September since the station opened in 1941.

Overall, Mayo fared worst for both sunshine and rain, recording the highest rainfall in the country for the entire month at Knock airport, of 157mm, and the lowest total hours of sunshine for the month, at 107.

Overall Cork and Kerry fared best. Roche's Point, measured the least rain for the month, at 77mm, while Valentia Island, off Kerry, recorded the highest number of hours of sunshine, at 140. Valentia also got 28 per cent more sunshine than normal for September.