2019 February and Winter Weather Statements

February 2019 was very mild and mostly dry: 

February started in a cold northerly polar maritime airflow with snow lying in places. This was short lived and from the 3rd, a milder westerly airflow took hold and continued for the rest of the first week, with rain or showers traversing the country from time to time. Storm Erik, a deep area of low pressure, passed close to the Northwest of Ireland and gave the windiest spell of the month on the 8th and 9th. A blocking area of high pressure set up over mainland Europe on the 12th, keeping it mostly dry over Ireland up to the 15th and introducing a mild southerly airflow that dominated the second half of the month. During the third week, some weak weather fronts broke through giving rain or showers at times especially on the 19th, but amounts stayed low in most places. High pressure over mainland Europe intensified again and moved closer to Ireland during the fourth week. This resulted in mostly settled weather up to the end of the month with good sunshine and record high temperatures in many places.

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Winter 2019 was dry and very mild:

The winter of 2018/2019 was the warmest winter on record at many of our stations. It was also drier than average at most of our stations. The first three weeks of December were mild and unsettled with frequent bouts of Atlantic driven low pressure systems and associated fronts traversing the country. Storm Deirdre on the 15th was one of several windy spells during this period. High pressure developed from the south over Ireland towards Christmas, which brought settled weather for Christmas and final week of the year. The first half of January stayed mostly dry and relatively mild with high pressure dominating in a slack, cloudy airflow. The second half of January was more unsettled and cooler as Atlantic weather fronts crossed the country periodically and the air masses alternated between tropical maritime and polar maritime. The end of January and start of February saw the coldest spell of the winter as a polar maritime air mass dominated and low pressure systems moved to the south of Ireland. This brought wintry precipitation and lying snow in places. It was short lived however as most of February was very mild. The first half of February saw Atlantic westerlies dominating again. Storm Erik on the 8th and 9th gave the windiest spell of the month. The second half of February saw high pressure over mainland Europe feeding in a mild and mostly dry southerly airflow over Ireland with good sunshine towards the end of the month.

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