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Summer was coldest for almost 30 years

Runners brave wind and rain at the 10k run over Divis Mountain in July Picture by Cliff Donaldson
Runners brave wind and rain at the 10k run over Divis Mountain in July Picture by Cliff Donaldson Runners brave wind and rain at the 10k run over Divis Mountain in July Picture by Cliff Donaldson

THIS year's miserable summer was the coldest for almost three decades.

Armagh Observatory, which has been recording the weather in the city since 1795, found that June, July and August had an average temperature of just over 14 degrees - slightly colder than the bad summers of 2011 and 1993 and the coldest since 1986.

However, despite perceptions of one of the worst summers in memory, records showed that rainfall and sunshine were close to average.

But the weather picture was different for August.

The observatory found that last month was colder and much wetter than average.

The average temperature was around 14.6 degrees - nearly 0.8 degrees colder than the 30-year average.

It will come as no surprise to commuters or gig-goers who braved the bad weather at Belsonic and the Van Morrison concerts last month that August was also an unusually wet month.

The amount of rainfall was around 54 per cent more than the 30-year average, although it was slightly sunnier.