Climatological Dry Periods 2021
Date first published: Monday 14th June 2021
Date last updated: Friday 18th June 2021
After a wetter than usual May with 163% of the May long-term-average 1981-2010 (LTA), the first 17 days of June 2021 has not seen much by way of rainfall at most locations around the country and we are currently at 22% of the May LTA. The previous driest June occurred in 1995 with 38% of June LTA and the previous wettest June was in 1998 with 174%.
One climatological dry period is ongoing with a dry spell at Dublin Airport and is into its 20th day. The recent dry spells at Phoenix Park, Casement Aerodrome and Dunsany, Co Meath all ended on Tuesday 15 June with rain falling on Wednesday. All recent dry spells commenced on Saturday 29th May 2021.
Stay up to date with the forecast for your region on www.met.ie.
 Figure 1. A climatological dry spell is a period of 15 or more consecutive days to none of which is credited 1.0 mm or more of precipitation. Figure to 17 June – this will be updated when dry spell ends at Dublin Airport. |
 Figure 2. A climatological absolute drought is a period of 15 or more consecutive days to none of which is credited 0.2 mm or more of precipitation. |
 Figure 3. A climatological partial drought is a period of at least 29 consecutive days, the mean daily rainfall of which does not exceed 0.2 mm. |
Dublin Airport, Co Dublin
- Second and on-going Dry Spell from Saturday 29 May with 0.8 mm over 20 days, the highest daily fall was 0.6 mm on Wednesday 16 June and the highest air temperature was 23.7 °C on Sunday 13 June.
- First Dry Spell from Monday 12 April to Monday 26 April with 2.6 mm over 15 days, the highest daily fall was 0.9 mm on Sunday 18 April and the highest air temperature was 16.1 °C on Monday 26 April. The dry spell ended on Tuesday 27 April with 1.3 mm being observed.
Other Dry Spells have been observed in 2021 at Phoenix Park, Co Dublin (18 days), Dunsany, Co Meath (18 days), Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin (18 and 16 days), Roches Point, Co Cork (15 days) and Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford (15 days).
Two Absolute Droughts during 2021 have been observed in Co Dublin at Phoenix Park (16 days) and Dublin Airport (16 days).
One Partial Drought during 2021 has been observed at Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford (31 days) starting on Sunday 28 March and ending on Tuesday 27 April with 5.9 mm of rainfall.
The longest dry spell in the digital record occurred at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin with 34 days beginning Tuesday 15 April 1980 and ending Sunday 18 May 1980.
The longest absolute drought observed was 33 days long at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin from Wednesday 3 September 1986 to Sunday 5 October 1986.
The longest partial drought observed was 62 days long at Roches Point, Co Cork from Thursday 16 June 1983 to Tuesday 16 August 1983.