Last month proved to be a record-breaking one for Armagh with the weather hitting new highs.
June was officially the warmest since records began 228 years years ago, as well as the driest for eight years and the sunniest for 14 years.
The figures are revealed in a report released today (Tuesday) by Armagh Observatory, which has been recording the weather at Armagh since 1795.
The mean temperature, that is, the average of the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, was approximately 17.35 degrees Celsius (63.2 Fahrenheit).
This was 3.92 C warmer than the 225-year, long-term (1796-2020) average June temperature at Armagh (13.43 C) and 3.30 C warmer than the most recent (1991-2020) 30-year June average (14.05 C).
Following a relatively cool June 2022, this was the warmest June on record at Armagh, beating the previous record set nearly 180 years ago (16.9 C in June 1846) by nearly 0.5 C.
The six warmest Junes in Armagh are now June 2023 (17.4 C), June 1846 (16.9 C), June 1826 (16.4 C), June 2018 (16.2 C), June 1887 (15.9 C) and June 1970 (15.8 C).
Although the month was much warmer than average there were no exceptionally hot days. The highest maximum air temperature was a warm 28.5 C on the 13th, followed by 26.9 C on the 16th and 26.6 C on the 15th.
The month’s exceptional average temperature occurred because each day’s maximum air temperature was warmer than the most recent (1991-2020) 30-year average of 18.3 C.
The three coolest days (lowest maximum temperature) were 18.5 C on the 7th, 18.6 C on the 8th and 18.7 C on the 30th. The mean monthly maximum temperature of 22.7 C exceeded the most recent 30-year average (18.3 C) by 4.4 C.
The nights too were relatively warm, the warmest occurring on the 24th with a highest minimum temperature of 17.2 C. This was followed by 16.1C on the 11th and then by 15.5 C, a value that occurred on three nights: the evening of the 17th, and early morning on the 23rd and 25th.
The 24th was the warmest June night on record at Armagh.
The coolest night or lowest minimum temperature was 7.4 C on the 7th followed by 7.9 C on the 22nd and 8.0 C on the 8th. The average minimum temperature this month (12.0 C) was 2.1 C warmer than the most recent (1991-2020) 30-year average (9.9 C).
There were three nights with ground frost, that is, nights with minimum grass temperatures less than or equal to zero Celsius. These were -0.8 C on the 3rd, -0.5 C on the 7th, and 0.0 C on the 8th. There were no night-time air frosts.
June 2023 was also the driest June at Armagh for eight years – since 29.45 mm of precipitation including three trace values was recorded in June 2015.
Total precipitation was 42.0 mm (1.65 inches), with no trace values. This was approximately 66% of the 183-year, long-term (1838-2020) June precipitation at Armagh (63.7 mm) and 67% of the most recent (1991-2020) 30-year June average (62.9 mm).
The wettest day was the 16th with 9.4 mm of rainfall, followed by the 23rd with 7.2 mm and the 26th with 5.6 mm.
Although the month was much drier than average, still there was measurable precipitation on more than half (16) of the 30 days of the month. Thunder was heard on the 18th, 19th, 20th and 25th.
Meanwhile, June was much sunnier than average with a total of 220.1 hours of strong sunshine.
This was the sunniest June at Armagh for 14 years, that is, since June 2009 when there were 223.3 hours of strong sunshine.
The month had nearly 38% more strong sunshine than the 140-year long-term (1881-2020) average at Armagh (159.7 hours) and 52% more than the most recent (1991-2020) 30-year average (144.6 hours).
The sunniest day, with 13.2 hours of strong sunshine, occurred on both the 4th and 22nd, followed by the 9th with 13.1 hours.
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