Inishowen recorded its warmest New Year’s Day ever, with temperatures soaring to an incredible 14.9 degrees Celsius at Malin Head weather station on Saturday, January 1.
The balmy weekend temperature was easily the warmest since daily records began back in 1955.
In fact the only temperatures that come close to 2022 are January 1, 2015, when it reached 12.2 degrees and New Year’s Day 1988 when it was 11.9 degrees.
Malin Head was the second warmest weather station in the entire country on January 1, just being pipped by Phoenix Park, where it reached 15 degrees even.
The 14.9-degree reading in Inishowen this year contrasts greatly with 2010 – the year of the big snow – when it plummeted to minus 0.5 degrees at Malin Head on New Year’s Day.
Despite the warmth of 2022, it was also very gusty, with winds reaching a peak of 59 miles per hour at Malin Head on January 1.
Meanwhile the month of December in Inishowen was considerably warmer than normal too, with an average temperature of 7.2 degrees, which is almost 13 per cent higher than the long-term average of 6.4.
That said, December was the third coldest month of 2021 at Malin Head, after January and February.
Rain-wise, December was pretty much as expected, with a total of 115.2 millimetres of rain, which is marginally below the LTA of 116.4mms.
Once again, December was the third wettest month of 2021, after October [156.2mms] and January [126.9].
