A dry weather period like the current one Ireland is experiencing has not occurred in Ireland since the summer of 2018, Met Éireann has said.

Met Éireann’s network of 25 principle weather stations are now experiencing dry periods lasting between 15 and 26 days. These dry periods began in the east of Ireland towards the end of May and became widespread across the country over the last few days.

Storms and then a drought in 2018 led to a fodder crisis, with forecaster Evelyn Cusack stating last week that 2018 was her ‘annus horribilis’ in weather terms because of the storms and the drought.

“The forecast is for mostly dry conditions to continue over the next few days with some rain possible on Saturday 10 June as low pressure encroaches from the south,” Met Éireann has announced.

There are three dry spells of weather measured by Met Éireann; dry spells, absolute droughts and partial droughts.

Dry spells

A dry spell occurs when there is less than 1mm of rain per day. All of Met Éireann’s 25 weather stations are currently experiencing dry spells lasting between 15 and 26 days.

The longest on-going dry spells are at three stations in Dublin and Carlow with a total of 26 consecutive days. Thirty consecutive days were previously recorded in February at Dublin Airport, Co Dublin and Dunsany, Co Meath

Absolute droughts (< 0.2 mm daily rain)

An absolute drought occurs when there is less than 0.2mm of daily rain. Twenty-four out of the 25 stations are currently observing absolute droughts lasting between 15 and 23 days. Stations in Wexford, Dublin and Carlow are experiencing the longest absolute droughts of 2023 with 23 consecutive days.

Partial droughts

A partial drought occurs when there are 29 or more days where mean daily rainfall is less than 0.2mm. The last partial drought prior to 2023 was 30 days long at Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford in 2021 from Sunday 28 March to Monday 26 April.