Map showing mean temperatures at a select number of synoptic stations for the summer period June 1st – August 15th 2011
"With that it has been quite dull with 80% of the usual sunshine but at least rainfall totals have come in close to normal. It is worth remembering, however, there have been 40 other summers which have been as cold, if not colder, since records began, but it does look poor against the backdrop of warming we have become accustomed to over the last few years with the summer of 2010 fairing warmer and sunner than normal".
The reason for the generally cooler than average conditions this summer so far is due to fact that most of weather this during June, July and August has come in from the north Atlantic, usually in the form of Polar Maritime (Pm) air masses which have been unusually dominant this season thus far (particularly so the P5 and P6 strand) and which is the direct result of the polar jet stream running much further south than normal over the North Atlantic region throughout much of the season.
Most of the values in the above chart are running between 0.2°c & 0.9°c below the summer normal so far with the highest deviations generally over more southern and midland regions. Both mean maxima and mean minima are running below normal with the highest temperature of the summer so far being 25.5°c at Oak Park, Carlow on the 3rd June.
Mean temperatures for August so far are running close to normal but with little sign of any significant break in the current westerly pattern over the next 8 days or so, it is looking increasingly unlikely that summer 2011 will finish on a high note. But, stranger things have happened!
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