cold
According to Irish Meteorological Service's monthly report (issued May 5, 2021), Ireland just suffered a historically cold month of April.

Dominating high-pressure systems set up to the west or northwest of Ireland, reads the report, which brought brutal polar air masses over the country, leading to below average temperatures.

The cold was intense.

Across the country, ALL weather stations logged a mean air temperatures that was either at or below their Long-Term Average (LTA) for the month; in fact, only one station matched their LTA - see Newport in the chart below:

chart
Deviations from the norm ranged from -2.5C to 0C.

That lowest reading (-2.5C) was logged at Dublin Airport, which made for the airport's coldest April mean temperature (5.6C/42F) since records began 78 years ago, in 1943 (solar minimum of cycle 17).

Ireland's lowest daily temperature for the month was the -4.7C (23.5F), observed at both Dublin Airport and Casement Aerodrome during the weekend beginning April 10. These lows were 8.9C and 8.4C below the sites' LTAs, respectively.

Also, ALL stations reported frost at some point during the month.

ICELAND REGISTERS LOWEST MAY TEMPERATURE EVER

According to preliminary data, a new Icelandic minimum temperature record for the month of May has been set.

On Tuesday, May 4, a bone-shattering -24.5C (-12.1F) was observed at Dyngjujökull glacier, which sits at elevation of 1,689 m (5,541 ft) above sea level, in the center of the island.

Dyngjujökull is an outlet glacier, part of the larger Vatnajökull glacier system.

Back in 2018, University of Iceland researchers found that ALL Icelandic glaciers were expanding — the first time the glaciers hadn't shrunk year-on-year in a quarter of a century. The researchers were shocked by the discovery that all of Iceland's glaciers, including Vatnajökull, had expanded during the previous last twelve months, from autumn to autumn, with many showing a really "significant addition of ice this year."

"[This] is unusual over the last 25 years," said project manager Finnur Pálsson at the time.

"It is a fact that it has been colder the last few years. And there was more snowfall in August on the upper part of Langjökull (pictured below), which is very unusual," added Pálsson, who concluded that all this is no reason to doubt global warming - guess he had to crowbar that in.

(Read more here)