Ireland experienced its hottest summer on record in 2026.

Met Éireann in its climate statement for summer 2026 said that for the second year in a row, Ireland has experienced what was provisionally the hottest summer since records began back in 1900.

"After extensive analysis of provisional data from Met Éireann stations, the average temperature of 16.28° across the country during the months of June, July and August made it 0.09° warmer than the previous record, only set in 2025," it said.

This was 2.03° above the long-term average for 1961-1990.

"Six of the 10 hottest summers have occurred since 2001, while provisional gridded rainfall data also shows summer 2026 was drier than average," Met Éireann added.

Six of the 10 wettest summers and two of the 10 driest summers have occurred since 2001.

Summer 2026 saw high pressure dominating over most of western Europe with the jet stream, a band of high level winds which steers weather systems around the globe, displaced to the north of Ireland through most of the season.

Met Éireann said intense high pressure systems known as heat domes extended north over Ireland on several occasions during the summer months bringing prolonged periods of hot weather.

June

June was warm and relatively wet overall. The first third of the month was dominated by Atlantic low pressure.

The second third of the month saw a battleground between high pressure to the south and low pressure to the west while it gradually warmed up.

A heat dome from the south brought exceptionally high daytime and nighttime temperatures, along with high humidity, towards the end of the month.

July

July was dominated by high pressure, which resulted in one of the hottest, driest and sunniest months on record for Ireland.

Atlantic weather fronts were kept away to the north and west for most of the month.

Any fronts that did encroach brought some cloud and rain, mostly to the north and west, but it stayed predominantly dry elsewhere.

This setup resulted in a lot of sunshine, especially for the south and east, along with consistently high temperatures.

August

August saw high pressure close by for most of the month, which kept it drier and warmer than average overall, especially in the south and east.

On a few occasions, low pressure passed close to or over the country, bringing scattered outbreaks of rain or showers that mostly affected the midlands, north and west.

A marked pattern change to low pressure dominance took hold towards the end of the month and season, which brought more widespread and heavy rainfall.

Rainfall

Rainfall was below average in most places during summer 2026, wettest in the north-west.

A partial drought at Oak Park, Co. Carlow that began on June 20 continued until August 24, lasting 66 days.

This is the longest partial drought on record since 1941.

All 25 stations saw dry spells between July 1 and August 2 lasting between 19 and 33 days.

Twelve stations mostly in the midlands, south and east also saw absolute droughts between July 1 and July 28 lasting between 15 and 27 days.

Fifteen stations in the midlands, south and east also saw partial droughts between June 20 and August 24 lasting between 29 and 66 days.

Nearly all rainfall totals were below their 1991-2020 long-term average for the season.