Experts in Ireland and Northern Ireland highlighted the impact of climate change on annual average temperatures.
It is expected that 2023 will be the warmest year on record for Ireland, beating the previous warmest year of 2022, Met Éireann said in its Provisional State of the Irish Climate Report 2023 on December 28.
For the first time, Ireland’s annual average temperature is greater than 11°C (record length 124 years). 2022 was the previous warmest year on record at nearly 10.9°C, narrowly beating 2007 by just 0.1°C.
2023 also saw Ireland's warmest June on record, as well as the wettest March and the wettest July on record in Ireland.
Met Éireann noted that for the first time in 23 years, four months of the year in Ireland were within their top five warmest months on record (average stays between one and two months every year since the year 2000).
“Ireland has seen a remarkable year with rainfall and warming at unprecedented levels at times," Keith Lambkin, Head of Climate Services at Met Éireann, said.
"These record-breaking extremes have knock-on consequences to much of society.
"Past weather events are no longer a reliable indicator of future weather events, but knowing this allows us to better plan and adapt to our changing climate.”
📢 2023 expected to be Ireland’s warmest year on record for second consecutive year.📈
Check out the full Provisional State of the Irish Climate Report 2023 via the Met Éireann app, or on https://t.co/e0QpncNS7O. 🔗#stateoftheclimate #climatechange #records pic.twitter.com/J2Y4Vj5bPo
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) December 28, 2023
Meanwhile, the UK Met Office reports that 2023 was provisionally the second warmest year on record for the whole of the UK, which had a provisional mean temperature of 9.97C.
However, Northern Ireland, as well as Wales, had their warmest years on record, meaning they’ve had consecutive warmest years on record.
Northern Ireland had a mean temperature of 10.17C in 2023; the previous record was 9.83C was set in 2022. The highest temperature recorded in Northern Ireland in 2023 was 13.69C.
Northern Ireland also had its third wettest year on record in a series from 1836. Northern Ireland provisionally recorded 1399.0mm of rain, which is 21% more than average.
Met Office Senior Scientist Mike Kendon said: “The observations of the UK climate are clear. Climate change is influencing UK temperature records over the long term, with 2023 going down as another very warm year and the second warmest on record.
"Had the 2023 value occurred during the 20th Century, it would have been, by far, the warmest year on record.
“While our climate will remain variable, with periods of cold and wet weather, what we have observed over recent decades is a number of high temperature records tumbling.
“We expect this pattern to continue as our climate continues to change in the coming years as a result of human-induced climate change.”
2023 was provisionally the second warmest year on record for the UK.
Wales and Northern Ireland had their respective warmest years in a series from 1884.
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— Met Office (@metoffice) January 2, 2024
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