Scorcher! Heatwave temperature breached on hottest Donegal day of the year 

Wednesday was officially the hottest day of the year in Donegal this year. And it could be even a bigger scorcher today!

A top temperature of 26.4C was recorded at Met Éireann’s weather station at Finner while Malin recorded a temperature high of 24.8C. Newport in Co Mayo recorded the highest temperature of the day in the Republic, at 27.2C.

It followed twenty straight days of South Donegal’s dry spell and “absolute drought” which finally ended on Saturday afternoon last, when the first rainfall in three weeks came tumbling down, and in some bases, by the bucket full.

Before that only 0.1mm of rainfall had been detected between June 10 and May 20 last - just short of three full weeks without any rainfall.

By the end of Saturday, a total of 2mm of rainfall had been recorded that day at south Donegal’s main weather station, which is housed on the grounds of Finner Camp. 

And on Sunday night, at 16.1C, the highest overnight official temperature of the year in Donegal was recorded, reflecting on the humid conditions that prevailed over the weekend.

But by Sunday, the rainfall had again disappeared to zero, but within 24 hours it had increased to a whopping 9.2mm rainfall recorded at Finner.  

Met Éireann categorises lack of rain in three categories - dry spells, absolute droughts and partial droughts.