Mild, bright and breezy:
December started mostly dry, cool and settled with high pressure over Ireland. On the 4th, Atlantic weather fronts broke through bringing a milder unsettled westerly airflow with low pressure to the north and high pressure to the south. A deep area of low pressure, Storm Atiyah, passed close to the North of Ireland on the 8th and 9th giving very strong winds and heavy squally showers across the country. A cooler Atlantic dominated pattern be-came established from the 11th, where Ireland was situated under a deep trough with successive frontal depressions passing close to or over the coun-try in a cyclonic or westerly airflow up to the 24th. One such area of low pressure, associated with Storm Elsa deepened rapidly as it approached the Southwest early on the 18th and moved north along the west coast, bringing widespread rain and very strong winds, with some coastal flooding in the West. Throughout the month, there were some brief dry and calm periods where frost and fog caused disruption. On Christmas Day, a transient area of high pressure kept it dry and calm. The month finished milder as high pressure developed to the south-east.
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