Ireland’s summer of 2026 was provisionally the warmest on record, according to official Met Éireann figures.
It marks the second summer in a row in which the seasonal record was broken.
An average summer temperature this year of 16.28 degrees broke the record set last year of 16.19 degrees.
A temperature of 16.28 degrees is the first time that a summer has been two degrees hotter than the old long-term average (LTA) of 14.25 degrees for the summers between 1961 and 1990.
RM Block
It was even 1.5 degrees above the latest long-term seasonal average between 1999 and 2020, which takes into account climate change.
“The warming trend is clear – we are seeing a lot more records broken,” said Met Éireann climatologist Paul Moore.
“We are already in a warmer world because of climate-induced climate change. We have had six of the warmest summers since 2001.”
Met Éireann has also compiled the list of the 10 coolest summers, but the last one to feature in it was in 1985. “Because of climate change, it’s extremely unlikely we will see a future summer in the category of the coolest,” Moore explained.
The summer of 2026 was very different from the summer of 2025, though their record-breaking temperatures were almost the same, he added.
Summer last year did not see many heatwaves, but temperatures remained elevated at night, whereas the summer of 2026 had a lot of hot weather, but night-time temperatures were lower in clear skies.
Fourteen stations, including all three in Dublin and three Cork stations, reported their hottest summer on record this year.
Eight stations reported their highest daily maximum temperature on record, and 10 stations reported their highest daily minimum temperature on record.
The highest temperature of the summer was the 32.2 degrees recorded at Athenry, Co Galway, on June 25th. Thirteen stations saw a record number of warm days (at 20 degrees or over), the highest number of which was 68, at Phoenix Park, Co Dublin.
Oak Park in Co Carlow, Casement in Dublin and Moore Park in Co Cork had 60 or more warm days.
Rainfall across the season was 78 per cent of average and it was only the 22nd driest summer on record. A lot of rain fell in the first half of June across the country and more fell in the last days of August.
In between there were prolonged periods of absolute drought (15 days or more with less than 0.2mm of rain) or partial drought (a period of at least 29 consecutive days in which the average daily rainfall does not exceed 0.2mm) especially in the south and southeast.
All 25 stations saw dry spells between Wednesday, July 1st, and Sunday, August 2nd, lasting between 19 and 33 days. Twenty of those stations were in absolute drought.
A partial drought at Oak Park that began on Saturday, June 20th, continued until Monday, August 24th, lasting 66 days. This is the longest partial drought on record since 1941.
Shannon Airport in Co Clare, Athenry in Co Galway, Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry and the Phoenix Park had four consecutive months of 30-degree-plus temperatures beginning in May.
The previous record was two consecutive months at Shannon Airport and Birr Castle in Co Offaly in 1976, and at the Phoenix Park and Oak Park in 2022.
Ten weather stations had their highest minimum temperatures and all-month minimum temperature records on August 13th.
In Moore Park, the temperature never dropped below 19.1 degrees over the 24-hour period, including in the middle of the night.
Other weather stations that experienced record minimums on that day were Sherkin Island, Co Cork; Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Newport, Co Mayo; Athenry; Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford; Gurteen in Co Tipperary; Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon; Finner in Co Donegal and Claremorris in Co Mayo.
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August 2026 was the ninth-warmest since records began in 1900, with an average temperature of 16.27 degrees. The highest temperature of the month was 31.2, recorded at Casement Aerodrome on the 12th.
The long-term forecast for the beginning of September was a return to more unsettled conditions, with wind and rain predicted over the weekend, though temperatures will be up to 22 degrees in places on Sunday.
The forecast for next week is for the unsettled weather to continue, with it turning wet and windy at times. It will also become notably cooler from midweek on.
