A staggeringly hot July 12 in Northern Ireland, reaching 30 Celsius - the hottest day for three years
It was not only the hottest day of the year in Northern Ireland, not only one of the hottest July 12ths ever recorded but it was also our hottest day in three years.
The hottest place, Magilligan in Co Londonderry, scraped 30 degrees Celsius (recording exactly 30.0°C), a temperature level that is rarely seen in NI, only happening every few years. In fact, for decades the hottest ever day recorded in the province was only somewhat higher than that, at 30.8°C on two days – one in 1976 and 1983.
It was, in summary, an exceptionally hot day for Northern Ireland – and in all locations too. It made for brutal marching conditions for the Orange and loyal order parades everywhere, although most participants to whom the News Letter spoke said with satisfaction that they had got through their full route as normal.
All but one of the main weather stations of the Met Office except recorded what is by its definition a “very hot” day for Northern Ireland of more than 25 degrees Celsius – 77 Fahrenheit. And even the one that didn’t, Murlough in Co Down, almost did, reaching 24.9C.
Here is the full list of the 16 weather stations, listed by hottest, that reached 25.0C or more:
30.0 ° Celsius Magilligan, Co Londonderry
29.5°C Castlederg, Co Tyrone
29.4°C Aldergrove, Co Antrim
29.2°C City of Armagh, Co Armagh
29.2°C Derrylin, Co Fermanagh
29.1°C Giants Causeway, Antrim
28.5°C Thomastown, Fermanagh
28.4°C Portglenone, Antrim
27.0°C Helen's Bay, Down
26.6°C Altnahinch, Antrim
26.6°C Stormont Castle, Co Down
26.1°C Glennane, Armagh
25.6°C Katesbridge, Down
25.3°C, Killowen, Down
25.2°C Killylane, Antrim
25.0°C Ballypatrick Forest, Antrim
Magilligan today was the first time anywhere in Northern Ireland has recorded 30.0C (86F) since July 18 2022. The hottest temperature ever in NI was reached the year before, 2021, of 31.3°C.
NI is the only place in the British Isles never to have hit 90 Fahrenheit (32.2°C): England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland have all done so.
Parts of England, particularly the south, are now reaching annual highs that are far in excess of Northern Ireland: somewhere reaches 30°C every year now, and did so again yesterday, reaching in 33.1°C (92F) in the West Mindlands, at Ross on Wye. Wales hit the same, at Cardiff Bute Pk.
The hottest ever July 12 UK on record was more than a century ago, of 35.0°C in 1923 in Clifton in Avon and at Reading University in Berkshire.