December 2012
Dawn as the King's River (Abhainn Rí) courses through Callan, on the morning of the 11th December. That morning it dipped to -5°. The first half of the month was cold with plenty of frosts but no snow.
November 2012
The descending moon over St. Canice's Cathedral just after sunrise on Saturday 3rd November. The month began with several of these frosty mornings, continuing a cold spell which began in late October.Overall it was another cold month with 11 air frosts. The mean temperature was 5.9°. Rainfall was ahead of normal with a total of 96.7mm.
Autumn 2012 was cold and dry. With mean temperatures 1 degree below normal, it was the coolest autumn since 1993. Rainfall was below normal, the driest since 2007. There were 13 air frosts.
October 2012
Toadstools and turning leaves near Danesfort on the 12th October. October started dry but early on the 11th there was some heavy rain with nearly an inch (23mm) recorded. It was quite cool too with plenty of ground frosts. Overall the month was cold. Mean temperature of 9.1° was over a degree below normal. The warmest day was the 1st when 15.6° was recorded and the lowest was -0.8° on the 27th. Rainfall was near normal.
September 2012
Green's Bridge, Kilkenny on September 5th. What a glorious start to the month. No rainfall and the temperature reached 23.5° on the 3rd. The house on the right is well bedecked in the black and amber! It cooled down considerably after that and the mean temperature was -0.6° below the 1981-2010 norm. There were three nights with ground frost and the lowest air temperature was 2.0° recorded on the 19th.
It was a dry month however with a total of 28.4mm of rainfall (40% of normal).
August 2012
Mosse's mill and the weir at Bennetsbridge on Thursday 9th. This was the start of a three day warm, summery spell with temperatures almost reaching 25°. Alas it wasnt to last and the weather became unsettled again by the following Sunday. The mean temperature for the month was 16.3° (a little above normal). It was yet another wet month though with a total of 121mm (160% of normal).
July 2012
Green's Bridge on the 27th July. You would have been waiting some time to get a pleasant photograph this month. The first three weeks were cool and wet (the annual Nore Swim, between the two bridges, had to be postponed until August because of the high water levels). However it improved towards the end of the month and overall it was better than June. The temperatures peaked on the 23rd when it almost reached 24°. There was a notable lack of warm days and the mean temperature was 1° below the 1981-2010 normal. The rainfall total was 91.4mm (143% of normal). It was only the wettest since 2010 though. In fact 2007,2008,2009, 2010 were all wetter. A sign of how wet Julys have been of late.
June 2012
The river Nore under the Ossory Bridge on June 8th. The previous day (from 09UTC on the 7th until 09UTC on the 8th) was the wettest June day recorded in Kilkenny, with a total of 41.4mm. The rain began in earnest in the small hours of the 7th and a total of 53.1mm fell in 36 hours. That is more than the usual total for all of June. No matter what comes after, it will go down as a wet month.
May 2012
A field of rape, shining under fair weather clouds on Saturday 12th May at Loughmacask, near the old Met station at Kilkenny. The first half of May 2012 was cold with plenty of night frosts. The frost on the 6th was particularly severe and with grass temperatures down -7.2°, there was considerable damage to sensitive crops. May was full of mixed fortunes and the last ten days of the month were very warm. So that the mean temp at 11.7° was a milder than normal. Also on the 25th we had the highest May temperature recorded at Kilkenny (26.3°). The total rainfall for May was 45mm which is less than 75% of normal.
April 2012
A distant shower over Castlecomer on April 11th. There were many such showers during April. There was a particularly heavy one the previous day over Kilkenny which covered the ground in hail for a time. It was cool too with plenty of night frosts. The mean temperature for the month was 7.7° (-0.4°) below normal. After a wet last day of the month, rainfall was 128% of normal.
March 2012
The boardwalk by the River Nore at the Lacken on March 18th. There were many fine mild days like this during March. Unfortunately St.Patrick's Day was marred somewhat by some scattered heavy showers. However there was a fabulous end to month with a new Kilkenny March maximum temperature of 20.4°, recorded on the 28th. With a mean temperature of 8.9° it was also the warmest March on record, a full 2.7° above normal. There were 4 air frosts with the lowest temperature -1.5° recorded on the 5th. It also continued the dry theme so far this year, with only 26mm of rain (41% of normal) recorded.
February 2012
Tory Hill and the broad, majestic River Suir near Portnahully Co. Kilkenny on February 16th. It has been a very mild, dry, dull month. The mean temperature was 7.1° (+2.3° from normal) and the warmest since Feb 1998. Rainfall stood at 21mm (32% of normal). Driest since 2009. The warmest day was the 23rd with 15.7° and coldest was 2nd Feb with -5.4°.
The Winter (Dec-Feb) overall was also very mild and dry. Total rainfall was 150mm which is only 62% of normal. It was the driest since Dec 2005 - Feb 2006. That was also the winter the salmon had problems ascending the river Nore due to flood relief scheme works. The mean temperature for the winter was 6.7°, almost 2 degrees warmer than normal. It was the mildest winter since 1997/1998.
January 2012
Sunset over the river Nore at Thomastown on New Year's Day. The first week of 2012 was mild with some pleasant weather. During the 2nd, however we had a brief cold snap with some sleet and snow and over 17mm of rain. These days were very windy too with a gust of 77 kph recorded on the 3rd.
Overall it was the warmest January in over 50 years at Kilkenny. The mean temperature was 7.1° and we have to go back to 1898 to find a warmer mean, when 7.7° was recorded at Kilkenny Castle. The minimum temperature of -1.7° was recorded on the 28th and the maximum of 12.8° was recorded on the 24th. Rainfall ended up 78% of normal.