Temperatures plummet to -4.7C and Storm Callum batters coast

A Bone-chilling snap led to the coldest October day in 80 years, Met Eireann revealed yesterday.

And experts claimed we were “lucky” to avoid the worst of Storm Callum, despite gusts of up to 124kmh battering the west coast.

Ireland’s hottest town came in the unlikely form of Finner, Co Donegal, as the mercury reached a very pleasant 21C in the north west.

But the freezing conditions towards the end of the month saw Dublin Airport record its lowest October daytime temperature in nearly 80 years at a bitter -4.7C. Met Eireann’s report for the month shows the capital was hit harder than most, as Phoenix Park saw 17 days of frost compared to one day on Sherkin Island in Cork.

However, all of Ireland felt the chill in October with almost every station recording lower temperatures than normal for this time of year.

The west saw the best of the sunshine overall, the average temper- ature in Mace Head, Co Galway was the warmest in Ireland at 11.2°C.

Despite escaping the worst of the cold, the south and west were battered by Storm Callum, which brought severe winds on October 11 and 12. Gusts of up to 124 kmh were reported at

Belmullet, Co Mayo as the s t o r m swept in. Met Eireann Meteorological Officer Paul Moore said the strong gusts were not a huge surprise and we were lucky not to be hit harder. He told the Irish Mirror: “We had Storm Ophelia there last year, there does tend to be quite a lot of ex-tropical storms and low pressures this time of year but this one was particularly low. It was out to sea a little bit, if it came in directly and hit us it would have been worse, we were fairly lucky.”

How many days of frost at Phoenix Park in October