With Ireland on track for the mildest December ever, the chances of a white Christmas are pretty much zero.
But December 25 may still be bring with it some meteorological wonder, as forecasters say there’s a chance this might be the warmest Christmas on record in Ireland.
The current record for the hottest Christmas Day on the Emerald Isle was set in 1974 when the mercury hit 56.7F at Dublin Airport.
Dublin Airport and Phoenix Park have already come very close to their record high December temperatures.
The Valentia Observatory off the coast of County Kerry has been reporting a much higher average temperature for December than usual, the Irish Times reported. Thus far the monthly average temperature of has been 50.9F, passing the record average of 50F set in December 1921.
And the average temperatures measured by the weather stations at Shannon Airport and Cork Airport have already passed the record December averages recorded in those locations. Shannon’s average December temperature thus far is 49.5F, as compared to a record mean of 48F, recorded in 1974. Cork’s average so far is 47.7F, slightly higher than the 1988 record average of 47.1F.
There have also been reports of daffodils, which don’t usually start blooming until the warmer months, blooming as early as November in west Cork.
However, climatologist Aidan Murphy did caution the Irish Times that because the second half of December is usually colder than the first, it’s too soon to tell if new records will be made, though he did acknowledge that “these are exceptional temperatures for the time of year.”
Met Éireann forecaster David Rogers explained that the unusually mild weather has been caused by an air mass bringing warm, humid air from the Sahara Desert.
But despite the warmer temperatures, Ireland has been getting less sunlight than a typical December, due to heavy rain storms and cloudy conditions.
In Belfast, where the current Christmas Day record temperature is 60.08 degrees F, bookies have become wise to the long range forecast reports and recently slashed the odds that this will be the warmest December 25 from 10/1 to 3/1.
Bad news for anyone who was hoping to win a tidy sum on that bet, but good news for anyone thinking about BBQing their Christmas turkey. Though it should be noted that the current predictions for Christmas day weather include “wet and windy” in addition to “warm.”
Would you be happy with record-breaker Christmas temperatures in Ireland, or are you still hoping to wake up to snow on Christmas morning? Let us know in the comment section, below.
H/T: Irish Times, Belfast Live.
Comments