The dominant influence on Ireland's climate is the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, Ireland does not suffer from the extremes of temperature experienced by many other countries at a similar latitude. Average annual temperature is about 9 °C.
Mean annual wind speed varies between about 14 km/h in the east midlands and 25 km/h in the northwest. Average rainfall varies between about 800 and 2,800mm. With south-westerly winds from the Atlantic dominating, rainfall figures are highest in the northwest, west and southwest of the country, especially over the higher ground. Rainfall accumulation tends to be highest in winter and lowest in early summer.
I have compiled this weather page from various sources around the net. It is a collection of feeds and links I have built up over the past few years and time has shown that these are some of the ones I use most frequently. First off for a quick overview of our current weather and what's expected over the next 24 hours see below:
Met Éireann, the Irish National Meteorological Service, is attached to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It is the leading provider of weather information and related services for Ireland. Check out their website for a comprehensive range of forecasting tools. Below, I have listed some of the most useful:
- Sea Area Forecast
- Bouy Reports
- The M3 buoy is of interest here. ~ 30 nautical miles(56 km) SW of Mizen Head
- Valentia Monthly Data
- Coastal Reports
Here are surface level pressure graphs from the UK Met Office predicting/charting pressure system for the next 48 hours. For long range predictions please go to the UK Met Offices' surface pressure page or check out their website be simply clicking on the banner above. Select the time period you would like to view below.
Radio Forecasts
You can get radio forecasts on RTE1, BBC Radio 4 and VHF
RTE Radio 1 (FM 88-90 MHz, MW 567 & 729 kHz) broadcast the Sea Area forecasts at the following times:
| Mon-Fri | 06:02 | 12:47 | 19:02 | 23:55 |
| Sat/Sun | 06:02 | 12:53 | 18:34 | 23:55 |
BBC Radio 4 (LW 198 kHz) broadcasts Sea Area forecasts at the following times:
| 05:35 | 12:01 | 17:54 | 00:48 |
(The 05:35 and 00:48 forecasts also include the inshore waters forecast).
VHF forecasts are generally broadcast once every hour - listen to Channel 16 or the coastguard working channel for information.
