Weather in Ireland

Unless you go in January or early February you won't be rained on your entire trip. Any other time, expect intermittent squalls to pass over and, if you're lucky, a rainbow on either end.

If it's all wet and grey at lunch time, expect a great sunset. And vise versa...

You're traveling to Ireland - it's green because of the rain. Having family that lives there, I can tell you regardless of what month it is, you need to plan for rain daily as it can happen just about any time. If you find a long stretch of sunny days, consider yourself extremely lucky. But at the same time, the rain often is fleeting and even though it may be overcast, it can pass by fairly quickly and still leave you in relatively dry conditions the rest of your day.

If you want to pick "best months for longest periods of day light" to do your outdoor sightseeing, I'd go for the summer months - or a shoulder season month like June or September. You will find it is still light outside up until about 10PM.

Pack a good umbrella, a pair of water-resistant shoes (don't really need to be fully waterproof unless you plan to go hiking in the rain) and layers of clothing (regardless of what month it is - you can find chilly temps and high winds in July and August that require long sleeves and a sweater or jacket - or you might strip down to a short sleeve tee). You will need to have a certain willingness to suck it up and get rained on in Ireland if you are on a schedule and trying to see certain things before you fly back home (first time I saw Giant's Causeway in the month of July, it was raining pretty hard - I got wet, spent an hour having tea inside their visitor center drying off and as soon as the heavy rain stopped, was back outside climbing around on the slippery rocks - on the upside, the Causeway was fairly empty of other tourists because of the rain).

On a bike tour in June 2011 we had more fair weather than rain, but encountered some days with rain in the morning that cleared up after a couple of hours, some days that it was misty and drizzly, and some days with an absoulte downpour that lasted for a couple of hours before clearing away. So the rain came and went, and varied in its duration and intensity. If it's wetter than you want at a particular time, there's usually a dry pub nearby!

Ireland an odd way is a bit like Hawaii and Seattle. A little drizzle most days is not unexpected but as noted unless you are there in Jan and Feb you should be okay. http://www.all-ireland.com/faqs/weather.htm, http://www.dochara.com/info/prepare/irish-weather-through-the-year/

Was there mid November/ early December last year. Some rain, but never a full day and nothing that drove me in doors.

I remember reading a piece on traveling in Ireland (I think it was in the New York Times, but I'm not sure). Upon arriving in Shannon Airport in July, the writer was surprised to see big posters in the airport saying "Book your summer sun getaway to the Carribean now!" Summer sun getaway? Doesn't Ireland get sun in the summer? He then learned that the answer is, sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. So, as the other posters have said, it can rain at any time, and if rain-free weather is important to you, you're going to the wrong country.

Hi Cynthia

Ireland is on the eastern side of the North Atlantic - thus its prevailing weather is generally driven by atlantic lows sweeping over it from west to east. This means that a) the weather is often damp, if not wet, any time of the year; b) it is relatively mild most of the year; c) the weather changes quite quickly. So like everyone else has advised, whenever you come be prepared for 'some' rain - how much, and how persistent, is a roll of the dice!

As has been said above, the reason Ireland is so green is that it is watered frequently. In preparation for our trip last year I looked at some of the online information about weather, and I just looked back at the info for Dublin. Early in the year the monthly rainfall is is right around 2.0 inches per month going up to about 2.7 - 3.0 later in the year with August being one of the worst months. The difference is average temperatures springtime in the mid 40s versus the upper 50s in the early fall. The other thing is the number of days with precipitation. A city like Chicago gets significantly more rain than Dublin but it comes in about 1/3 fewer days. Bottom line is that whenever you go to Ireland you are likely to encounter some rain but there is no certainty as to what you will get. Last year during the first week in September the weather in London London was Beautiful blue skies with highs in the mid 80s, the reality returned.

Good advice from everyone. Wear a hat. Take an umbrella whenever you go out. Travel May through September. Enjoy the weather.

We have traveled in Ireland in April, June, July, and August. We have been lucky each time to have lots of sunshine, with the daily light rain/sun shower. I always advise people to bring a light windbreaker/rain jacket with a hood and sun glasses, because you'll be switching between them when the rain showers come. April may have been my favorite time, but be advised that many things are shut down for Easter.

I found the New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/travel/irish-eyes-are-smiling-the-sun-is-not.html

You can never guess what the weather is going to be. When we went in mid-September this year, we had apparently just missed about three weeks of steady rain. But, we were treated to really incredible weather--mostly clear, with a few days of clouds, some rain overnight while we slept, and temperatures warm enough that I only needed my heavy sweater a few days when we were on the coast, all the way up until October 4, when it turned pretty chilly (mid-50s for a high) but gorgeously blue skies. In the entire 18 days we were there, we only had daytime rain on two of them, which were the only times I pulled out my raincoat.