Ben Lowry: Northern Ireland has just had a stunning two-week spell of sunshine - and this is how rare it is

In my own case I was fortunate to be able to savour two days’ off work this week, as I used up leave time.

The not so good news for us all is that the weather was so stunning we are unlikely to see its like for quite a while. Perhaps not indeed for some years.

​It was not unusual in terms of the temperature, and was even chilly at points in the early sunny days, albeit becoming markedly warmer towards the end of this week. By that time we were seeing daily maximum temperatures that were higher than the normal top temps in July and August of 18 degrees Celsius or 19C.

But it was in terms of sunshine that this was so unusual. To get an idea of how unusual, look at the graphic on this page, that was based on satellite imagery. It was taken at lunchtime on Tuesday April 2 when the sun was at its highest point. You will see that there is not a discernible cloud across any part of the British Isles.

That is very rare and happens a handful of times a year, if indeed at all in any 12 month period. Even on days that are very sunny across Britain and Ireland there are typically clusters of cloud cover in some locations. But in that April 2 satellite image there are not even the small traces of visible cloud that you can see, if you look closely towards the bottom right of the graphic, over Belgium and France.

I have been writing about extreme weather in Northern Ireland for 25 years and have delved into my archives to find a quote that has stuck in my mind since 2004. There was a fabulous three-day spell of sun early that autumn that year, and on September 8 my report for the Belfast Telegraph reads: “A small patch of southern Munster, around Kinsale harbour in Co Cork, was the only part of the British Isles that was under cloud yesterday afternoon. There were uninterrupted blue skies over every part of Northern Ireland and temperatures were unseasonably warm."

The temperatures then, like now, were unseasonably warm, in the low 20s Celsius (70+ Fahrenheit).

My report then included this evocative line from a spokesman for PA Weather Centre: "At one point yesterday there were clear skies from the southern tip of Iceland to central and northern Africa. It is most unusual clear skies over such a distance, although there were thundery spells in Spain."

I have often thought about that image of clear skies all the way down to Africa and wish that I had been able to see it on satellite, as you now would be able to do, even as am amateur observer.

This time Britain and Ireland, like then, have been enjoying better weather than southern Europe. Our sunny conditions overlapped with heavy rain and even in flooding in much of Spain, Italy and Greece.

Our sunny spell began in late March, which was itself a warmer, drier and sunnier month than usual. While Great Britain has just had similarly fantastic weather to us, all of Ireland has been particularly free of cloud. Day after day the island has been clear.

There have been sunnier spells than this in NI in terms of total hours of sunshine but they have typically been in summer, when there is considerably more daylight than now. There is 17 hours of daylight each day in much of June and into July, whereas this fine spell of weather began shortly after the equinox when there was an even 12 hours of day and night. Even now, there is less than 14 hours of daylight each day.

Look then at the sunniest places per day this month below. Most days have had somewhere that had at least 12 hours of sunshine, which is about 90% sunshine:

• April 1 - 9.8 hours in Thomastown

• April 2 - 12.1 hours Thomastown & Magilligan

• April 3 - 11.6 hours Magilligan

• April 4 - 6.5 hrs Katesbridge

• April 5 - 12.2 hrs Thomastown & Magilligan

• April 6 - 12.4 hrs Thomastown

• April 7 - 12.3 hrs Thomastown

• April 8 - 12.2 hrs Magilligan

• April 9 - 12.3 hrs Magilligan

• April 10 - 12.5 hrs Magilligan

We can all remember spells of sunny weather. I recall with a stab of pain May 1989 at school and being dismayed that the glorious weather coincided with exams. Lockdown also coincided with very good weather, from late March into May of 2020.

One of our readers, Ian Rippey, has been following Northern Ireland weather patterns as an amateur observer for more than 50 years. He told me yesterday of this recent weather: "It is truly exceptional. I cannot remember such a long spell of wall-to-wall sunshine in all my 50 years of monitoring this. If there had been anything similar I would remember it.

"Other memorable spells include late June and early July 1976, which also a hot spell, and also late June 1995 - hot and sunny. Late June and early July 2018 also had a spell of at least seven days of almost non stop sunshine, of about 15 hours a day. But then there is considerably more daylight at that time of year. As a percentage of daylight hours, this has been remarkable."

People might wonder whether this spell is caused by global warming, but I am not sure it is. As said above, it has not been exceptional in terms of heat. In any event climate change can cause not just hotter but more turbulent weather, and we have just enjoyed a spell remarkable for its stability.

Also, this comes after one of the greyest recorded spells of weather in Northern Ireland in February. Armagh had a six-day sequence of sunless days from February 13 to 18 and, before that five days with just 0.5 hours of sun. There have only been a handful of such grey spells in February since 1880.

The often grey weather in NI does not bother me as much as it did when I was young. I have learned to savour the sun more when it does appear. And wow did appear over the last fortnight.