IRELAND HAD ITS warmest spring and summer since 1900 last year, according to Met Éireann, and its overall second warmest year on record.

The last four years – 2022 to 2025 – are now the top four warmest years on record in Ireland.

Last year’s average annual air temperature in Ireland was 11.14 degrees, putting it just behind 2023, the warmest year on record, that recorded an average temperature of 11.21 degrees. It is also only the second time that the mean was over 11 degrees.

Ireland’s annual average temperature continues to creep up as the world experiences warming and climate change. Seven of Ireland’s ten warmest recorded years have occurred since 2005, according to data provided by Met Éireann.

However, 2025 also had above average rainfall. Autumn 2025 was the fourth wettest autumn on record due to a “mobile Atlantic regime”, and provisional rainfall data suggests that 2025 was the fifteenth wettest year since 1941.

Co Wexford experienced its second wettest year on record, according to rainfall recorded at Johnstown Castle. There were 184 “rain days” recorded throughout the year at Dublin Airport, and 258 recorded at Newport in Co Mayo.

The report discussed some of the more extreme weather faced by Ireland last year, particularly its five named storms that caused widespread disruption to electricity and power – most notably Storm Éowyn. It also set out the varied sunshine and heavy rainfall faced across the country.

Commenting on the report, climatologist Paul Moore said the warming trend “is very clear” with the last four years being the warmest on record in Ireland.

“2025 saw not only our warmest spring, but also our warmest summer on record, with high nighttime temperatures contributing to the summer record,” he said.

“We experienced five named storms in 2025, as well as a number of impactful rain events. The continued warming brings with it the increasing risk of severe weather events.”

Significant disruption faced by the public as a result of increasingly violent storms has lead Government to advise households to keep a small sum of cash in case of emergencies that would see a blackout. 

It has also recently announced plans to update the energy grid, with one of its aims being to ensure it is “storm resilient”. 

Met Éireann said there is an expectation that Irish rainfall patterns will change, with an increase in both dry periods and heavy rainfall events.

It noted that as global sea levels “continue to rise”, storm surge and coastal flooding risk around the Irish coasts is expected to increase.

“Climate change is adding fuel to storms due to warmer waters and more moisture in the atmosphere and studies show that storms we’ve experienced in the past (e.g. Ophelia) will become more powerful, larger, and more destructive in a warmer world,” Met Éireann added.