Ireland’s summer has been the coldest for almost 50 years – and it ain’t going to get any better!

Weather forecasters have confirmed that temperatures in August are already colder than they have been for two decades.

After promising the country a BBQ summer, they have now completed a u-turn and warned that the rest of the holiday season will be cold, wet and dreary.

Forecasters have confirmed to the Irish Examiner that Ireland has just experienced a ‘downright atrocious’ summer with temperatures below average since the start of June.

More cold days and rain are forecast before the arrival of autumn in September.

Just this weekend, temperatures peaked at 18 degrees Celsius with widespread rain across the country.

Experts at the state run Met Éireann weather department also confirmed that the maximum temperature in Ireland this summer was 25.5C, recorded at Oak Park in Carlow on June 3rd.

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The Examiner reports that the last time Ireland’s peak summer temperature was so low was in 1965 which had a top temperature of 25.2C at Ballybrittas in County Laois on June 29th.

Meteorological officer Brian Delaney said: “The maximum temperature this summer has been 25.5C at Oak Park and the last time we had a maximum temperature lower than that was in 1965.”

Last year Ireland hit 27.1C twice last summer and 28.6C in 2009 with previous years experiencing a near-record 32.3C scorcher on July 19, 2006, at Elphin, County Roscommon, and 30C in 2005 and 2003.

Forecasters say the unsettled weather is to continue with no chance of a hot spell between now and the end of August.

Parts of Ireland have experienced their coolest August temperatures for almost 20 years.

Met Éireann experts say Cork Airport’s 13.9C average temperature is the lowest for August since 1992 which recorded a temperature of  13.5C while Shannon Airport has averaged 14.8C this month, the coldest since August 1993’s 14.7C.

Temperatures overall have been below average at six of the 10 Met Eireann stations which have current temperature records while July in Dublin was the coolest for half a century when the city’s main weather station at Dublin Airport averaged just 13.8C, the coldest since July 1965.

Parts of Ireland also had their least sunny July in 14 years.

Positive Weather Solutions senior forecaster Jonathan Powell said: “With the jet stream poorly positioned, Atlantic weather fronts have won hands down with showers never letting up.”

Forecaster Brian Gaze of The Weather Outlook said: “Ireland’s summer has been mixed on the whole and, at times, downright atrocious.”