Farmers can expect longer periods of drought followed by more intense periods of rainfall in the future, Barry Coonan from Met Éireann has said.

A study on storm Babet - which put Midleton in Cork under water last year - has found that that particular type of event is twice as likely now than before and the rainfall is 13% more intense than it would have been, Coonan told Teagasc's Signpost conference on Thursday 21 November.

Coonan, alongside his colleagues Mary Curley and Ciara Ryan at Met Éireann, have looked at the weather trends in Ireland over the last 60 years in two 30-year blocks - 1961 to 1990 and 1991 to 2020.

Temperature

The average temperature has increased by about 0.7°C in the last 30 years compared with the previous 30 years, Coonan explained.

"It's generally right across the country, so everywhere has increased [in temperature]. If you look at the seasonal variation, spring has had slightly more of an increase between the two 30-year periods and winter has had less of an increase.

"It's not consistent across months; we've almost a 1°C increase in February, April, May and November, but only 0.2°C in October. December hasn't changed much either by just 0.3°C. When you hear that Ireland has got warmer, it's not uniform across months," he said.

On an annual basis, the temperature of Ireland is increasing by 0.2°C.

Rainfall

There is even more variability with rainfall, Coonan explained. In the last 30 years, the average rainfall was 1,288mm annually. This is an increase of 7% on the previous 30 years.

Every season, bar summer, has experienced more rainfall in the period between 1991 and 2020. In terms of geography, the north and the west has been where the increase has been seen and the east and south coast have gotten drier, Coonan said.

Coonan has also said that there has been an increase in sunshine hours between the two time periods of about 4.5%.

Overall, looking towards the future, Coonan said that we can expect drier summers and wetter winters.