Highest rainfall for local weather station in July for past 15 years

According to data from Met Éireann, twelve primary weather stations have had their wettest July on record. One such station was Mount Dillon, Co. Roscommon which recorded 206 mm of rain and the wettest July for the station in 15 years.

Other stations included Gurteen, Co Tipperary with 163.3 mm of rain, Phoenix Park, Co. Dublin with 149.1 mm, a record length of 82 years and Shannon Airport, Co. Clare with 155 mm of rain and a record length of 77 years.

The rainfall percentage for the whole month basis for Mount Dillon stood at 282% and for Mullingar was 251%. All rainfall totals were above their 1981-2010 Long-Term Average (LTA) for the month. The number of rain days ranged from 19 days at Roche's Point, Co Cork to 29 days at both Finner, Co Donegal and Knock Airport, Co Mayo.

Numerous active weather fronts crossed the country along with periods of intense, sometimes thundery, convective rainfall in July. After a relatively dry start, showers increased in intensity towards the middle of the first week, before an active weather front, associated with a low pressure system to the west, crossed the country at the end of the first week. This brought some high rainfall totals in the Southwest and West.

The first half of the second week saw low pressure, just to the west of Ireland, steering heavy thundery showers or longer periods of rain across the country in a southerly airflow, with high rainfall totals in the Southeast. Further Atlantic low pressure systems brought widespread heavy rain on the 22nd with some intense falls leading to flooding in places. The month finished with low pressure in charge bringing further rain or showers daily.

July 2023 also had more than four times the amount of rain observed in July 2022 and more than twice that observed in July 2021. The previous wettest July was in 2009 with 202% of the LTA.

Over the past 12 months, Ireland had its wettest October on record in 2022, its wettest March on record earlier this year and now its wettest July on record.