October 2026 was 1.6C warmer than the historic average for the month says Armagh Observatory - and Halloween was one of the warmest on record
Fresh figures from Armagh Observatory show that last month was well above the historic average for the station, while Halloween itself was one of the warmest on record.
The average temperature for the month was just under 11.1C.
That is 0.7C warmer than the most recent 30-year average, and some 1.6C warmer than the average across the historic observatory’s last 225 years.
The highest maximum temperature recorded during the month was 19C on October 12, followed by 18.3C on the October 26.
The lowest minimum temperature was -0.6 C on October 18, followed by 0.3 C on October 19.
In a statement, the observatory said: “Halloween (October 31) was very mild this year with a maximum temperature of 16.5 C, making this the fourth warmest Halloween on record at Armagh.
"This was also the warmest Halloween at Armagh for 12 years, that is, since a maximum temperature of 17.9 C was recorded on October 31, 2014.”
It was also the 12th sunniest October on record, with the observatory recording 114.6 hours of strong sunshine, which is 31% more than the 140-year average (87.5 hours) and nearly 25% more than the most recent 30-year average (92 hours).
But despite the relative warmth and the strong sunshine, it was also notably wetter.
Total rainfall was 92mm, nearly 14.5% more than the 183-year long-term October average at Armagh, and 13.7% more than the most recent 30-year average.
As you might expect, the wettest day was during Storm Boelo, when 15.1 mm fell on October 24.
Armagh Observatory first began recording the weather at Armagh in 1795.
At a UK-wide level, the Met Office said that “mild, wet and sunny might sound like an unlikely combination, but that is exactly what October 2026 delivered”.
Taken across the whole of Northern Ireland, it found the average temperature was 10.1C, which is 0.5C higher than the 30-year average, while both rainfall and sunshine were 19% higher than average.
The Copernicus project, part of the EU’s space programme, said last week that “October 2026 was the warmest October on record globally, with an average global surface air temperature 1.75C above the pre-industrial level; it was the third consecutive month to exceed 1.5°C”.