Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

March Among "Top Ten" Wettest on Record - Met Éireann

2nd April 2024
Sea surface temperatures over the North Atlantic have also been at record high levels now for over a year
Sea surface temperatures over the North Atlantic have also been at record high levels now for over a year. Credit: Afloat

Met Éireann has indicated that last month was among the “top ten” wettest months of March on record.

Sea surface temperatures over the North Atlantic have also been at record high levels now for over a year.

As RTÉ News reports, data due to be published by Met Éireann on Wednesday (April 3) will show that some areas of the island had rainfall over 200 per cent above normal.

However, according to climatologist Paul Moore, it was not as wet as March 2023. Moore said most of the precipitation was in the south and east, and there was 145% of “long-term average rainfall.”

The difference between this March and March 2023 is that "February 2023 was a very dry month”, unlike the very wet February this year.

He said that Dublin Airport had 219% of its long-term average for March, Phoenix Park 211% and Valentia Observatory in Kerry had 193% of its long-term average.

Kerry would have had its wettest March since 1963, he noted.

Rainfall had been "above-average” since June 2023, while temperatures for March were above average and sunshine values below average.

This means there is less drying, and farmers are facing a fodder crisis.

The higher sea temperatures over the past year would contribute more moisture into the atmosphere, he noted.

Read RTÉ News here

Published in Weather
Afloat.ie Team

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Direct Donation to Afloat button