Diary of Highlights

1st to 9th
An unsettled spell of weather at the start of January with a mixture of bright, sunny or clear spells and showers. This was interrupted at times, by longer spells of rain. Of note was the 51 m.p.h. gust at Castlederg on the 3rd, heavy rain on the 7th when St Angelo reported 26 mm of rain which was followed by another 28 mm on the 8th. The 8th and 9th turned out to be mild days with temperatures reaching 13 °C and 11 °C respectively.

10th to 12th
Gale or severe gales affected Northern Ireland, at times, from the 10th through to the 12th with a gust of 63 m.p.h. being recorded at Ballykelly on the 11th and 70 m.p.h. on the 12th. It was also mild with a temperature of 13 °C on the 12th. The weather remained unsettled throughout with showers of longer spells of rain.

13th to 17th
The 13th to 15th were showery days, these showers merging to give longer spells of rain, at times. The 16th started cold with a widespread frost, with -3 °C being recorded at Katesbridge It became milder with rain during the evening, although there was a return to colder weather with wintry showers on the 17th.

18th to 20th
Stormy for a time on the 18th with Killowen reporting a gust that reached 81 m.p.h., and several other stations reporting over 70 m.p.h. gusts. Weather wise on the 18th, it was showery and fairly mild. The morning of the 19th was bright with the odd shower, then cloudier in the afternoon with some rain. The evening was very mild with temperatures reaching 13 °C but gales became severe with gusts reaching 70 m.p.h. at Ballykelly. The severe gales slowly eased during morning of 20th but scattered showers affected many places during the day with some sunshine. A colder day, with highest temperatures of around 5 °C.

21st to 26th
The 21st saw sunny spells and scattered showers, falling as snow over hills with winds turning more northerly through the day. A crisp winters day on the 22nd, with mainly sunny skies, although the odd wintry shower later in the evening. The 23rd started on a similar note before thicker cloud pushed more frequent showers across all areas in the afternoon, byu this time most of the showers were rain. Showers died out early on the 24th to leave a mainly dry day with some sunshine, though a strong northeast breeze affected the east coast. A sharp frost overnight led to temperatures dipping to -4.1 °C at Castlederg. The 25th was mainly sunny though cloud edged in from the north through the day.

21st to 26th
The period 26th to 31st was a cloudy spell of weather with the odd spot of rain or drizzle across the northwest but a few bright or clear spells in the southeast.