Over 324 millimetres of rain was recorded by Met Eireann at Moorepark in Fermoy throughout last December, by far the highest monthly rainfall at the weather station since records begin in 2007.
This beats the previous record of 225.2mm from November 2009. The 324.3mm of rain that fell during December, throughout which a number of storms were recorded, was followed up by 168.4mm of rainfall in January and 153.1mms in February.
The 110.1mm of rain that fell in November takes the total rainfall between November and February to 755.9mm. In comparison, the total annual rainfall recorded at Moorepark in 2011 was just 873.9mm.
Despite the increased rainfall over recent months, average temperatures for this time of year have been significantly higher than in previous years.
The mean temperature recorded last November was 9.9 °C, 1.4 °C higher than the same month in 2014, while in December the mean temperature was 9 °C, which was on average 3 °C warmer than the previous December.
As global temperatures rise and the air becomes warmer, more moisture evaporates from land and water into the atmosphere.
More moisture in the air generally means more rain and more heavy downpours, increasing the risk and frequency of flooding, as the local area experienced in recent months.
