Wet weekend brought third of April’s rainfall

Some parts of Northern Ireland saw about a third of April’s average monthly rainfall descend upon them in just 36 hours at the weekend, the Met Office has said.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Apr 2019, 08:42 GMT
Updated 29th Apr 2019, 08:53 GMT
27/04/19 McAuley Multimedia Storm Hannah batters Ballintoy Harbour on the North Coast. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia27/04/19 McAuley Multimedia Storm Hannah batters Ballintoy Harbour on the North Coast. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia
27/04/19 McAuley Multimedia Storm Hannah batters Ballintoy Harbour on the North Coast. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia

Forecaster Sarah Kent said the Province experienced an “extremely wet and unseasonably windy” weekend, just after a miniature heatwave at the start of last week.

However Ulster largely escaped the brunt of Storm Hannah, which hit south-west Ireland harder – causing power-outages for about 30,000 electricity customers in counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.

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Looking at a 36-hour period from 2am on Saturday to 2pm yesterday, the wettest place in Northern Ireland was Altnahinch in mid-Antrim, where 31.22mm of rain fell.

This was followed by Killylane in south-east Antrim, with 26.6mm, and Katesbridge in Co Down, with 24.2mm.

Northern Ireland’s average monthly rainfall for the month of April is 75mm.

Meanwhile the strongest wind speed in NI was a reading of 52mph at Thomastown, Fermanagh (far below the 75mph recorded at Mace Head in Co Galway).

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Looking ahead, with the Belfast Marathon coming up this Sunday Ms Kent offered some hope for runners, saying the weekend looks set to be “relatively cool” with initial showers dying down as the weekend goes on.

Related topics:Northern IrelandMet OfficeProvince