Weather

The weather station at east Durrow was set up in May 2008. The equipment used is a Davis Vantage Pro II that measures temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall and barometric pressure. This data is transmitted every 2 seconds to the internet website http://www.laoisweather.com where the data can be freely accessed. The station also reports to the Irish Weather Network which displays live weather data from similar stations all around Ireland.

In addition, a Met Eireann climatological station (Number: 472) was installed in September 2010 and the data collected is sent to headquarters in Glasnevin, Dublin on a monthly basis. The climatoligical station measures rainfall in a manual gauge, soil temperatures at 5cm, 10cm and 20cm depths, air temperature including wet-bulb, daily maximum and daily minimum temperatures. The climatoligical station is a project that is envisaged to last thirty years and collect a climate profile for Durrow.

The weather of Durrow can be best described as temperate with rare extremes when compared to other locations around the world. However, when looking at the data and comparing it to other locations in Ireland it is notable that Durrow is amongst the warmest locations in Ireland during the summer, and conversely the coldest in winter. Owing to it’s proximity to the “sunny southeast” the town receives lower rainfall than the national average.

The following table gives the expected mean temperatures, rainfall and sunshine for each month of the year…

Month	Max °C	Mean °C	Min °C	Rain (mm)	Sun hrs	Dull days
January	7.6	4.5	1.3	95	1.71	11
February	7.8	4.7	1.5	70	2.29	8
March	10.0	6.1	2.2	66	3.32	6
April	12.5	8.0	3.4	56	4.85	3
May	15.1	10.4	5.6	68	5.47	2
June	18.3	13.4	8.4	56	5.15	2
July	20.0	15.2	10.4	57	4.65	2
August	19.6	14.8	9.9	73	4.51	2
September	17.3	12.7	8.1	75	3.82	3
October	14.0	10.1	6.1	88	2.71	6
November	9.9	6.4	2.8	79	2.22	9
December	8.3	5.2	2.0	95	1.48	12
Durrow, LS	Average	9.3	Total	878	3.52	66

 

The table below is the same data in American measurements…

 

Month	Max °F	Mean °F	Min °F	Rain (in)	9am Humidity	3pm Humidity
January	46	40	34	3.7	88	80
February	46	40	35	2.8	87	74
March	50	43	36	2.6	85	68
April	55	46	38	2.2	79	64
May	59	51	42	2.7	76	64
June	65	56	47	2.2	76	65
July	68	59	51	2.2	78	65
August	67	59	50	2.9	82	66
September	63	55	47	3.0	85	69
October	57	50	43	3.5	88	76
November	50	43	37	3.1	89	78
December	47	41	36	3.7	89	82
Durrow, LS	Average	48.7	Total	34.6	Average	70.9

Snowfall varies greatly from year to year, but averages out around 20 days per year. Snowcover is rather rare, usually averaging less than ten days per annum, occurring mostly in late winter and early spring. Some winters can have no snow-cover, but again these are rare.

Thunderstorms are also very infrequent and when they do occur they are mostly weak storms. On average there is less than ten days per annum where thunder is observed. Thunder is most likely in late spring and summer months, but can occur during any month.

Fog is observed on average 40 to 50 times a year with the autumn and winter months featuring most fog. Hill fog is usually associated within warm sectors of a low pressure system containing a southwesterly airflow.

Air frost occurs on average slightly more than 50 nights of the year, with air frost during summer months almost unheard of. Grass frost occurs on over 100 nights of the year with the summer months by-and-large escaping these.

Durrow lies in the Nore valley and the surrounding terrain greatly influences the wind speed the town experiences. Gales are quite uncommon, occurring on less than five days per year with the winter months most likely to feature gales. The average wind speed is 6.5mph (10.5kph) on any given day. The prevailing wind is southwesterly.

Rainfall, as the tables above suggest is plentiful, however it is important to note that nearly 200 days per year will record little or no rainfall. (less than 0.2mm/0.1in)

Since May 2008 the following temperature records were established at Durrow: Max: 27.7c (81.2F) on June 2nd 2009; Min: -14.0c (+6.8F) on December 25th 2010.

Note: Sunshine, snow, fog, humidity, thunder and wind data used is from Kilkenny (17miles/27km south of Durrow). Average rainfall and temperature data is courtesy of Met Eireann.