Tuesday 04 September 2018
The weather included thunderstorms, heat waves, named storms and droughts. The following report is a summary of the weather for summer 2018.
Summer Summary 2018
The summer of 2018 will be remembered for heat wave and drought conditions that affected many parts of the country. Intense thunderstorms were also a feature at the start of the meteorological season. Temperatures were above normal and rainfall amounts were below normal at most stations. Large blocking high pressure systems were the dominant feature of the summer. This kept the north Atlantic jet stream to the north of Ireland. The periods through the summer where high pressure dominated were the first two weeks in June, ending temporarily with the arrival of Storm Hector on 14th June. High pressure to the north stretched from the Azores to Scandinavia at times between the 21st June and the 14th July. This gave slack winds and very warm mainly dry conditions. In between these dry settled spells and especially during August a weak jet stream moved south over Ireland, with frontal troughs and showers crossing the country from time to time. However most of the rain fell in the north and west of the country.
Details on summer records, heat waves, droughts and more is available in the full report (PDF): 2018 A summer of Heat Waves and Droughts