Hottest June on record in Valentia

IT’S official! Last month was the hottest June on record, Valentia Observatory confirmed on Monday.

Last month’s mean temperature at Valentia was 15.3 degrees Celsius, which matches the record set way back in 1940.

Valentia’s hottest day was on Thursday as the mercury hit 28.4 degrees Celsius - the hottest daily high at the station in 27 years, and the fifth hottest there since its records began in 1939.

There are interesting variations between the records in North and South Kerry, however.

Liscahane Garden Centre’s official Met Éireann station in Ardfert logged its hottest day, since its records began in 1980, on Wednesday (June 27).

The temperature there soared to 31.6C on Wednesday in what was only the fourth occasion the Ardfert station logged a temperature in excess of 30C, Liscahane weatherman Don Nolan said.

Meanwhile, Valentia recorded its driest June in 43 years with just 39.2mm rain falling in the month at the Observatory – in its fifth driest June on record. It has not recorded any rain since June 20.

Again, there is some variation with the northern half of the county, with just 16mm rain falling at Ardfert for June.

“While the top temperature was on Wednesday, we recorded 30.8 two days later on Friday. We’ve only recorded 30 degrees on four occasions in our time with Met Éireann and two of these were last week, the other two occurred on July 18, 2006 (31C) and July 19, 2013 (30.3C),” Don Nolan said.

Referring to the records of his Tralee-based Met Éireann predecessor, the late William McCarthy, Don uncovered interesting comparative detail with 1976. It still holds the record (32C in Tralee on June 30, 1976). But 2018 logged more intense heat.

The average daily maximum for the hottest period in ‘76 was 27 degrees (June 28 - July 2). The avg daily max over the hottest five days of 2018, June 25 to 29, was 29.2C – 2C hotter.