A windy day in an unusual month and unusual year for windstorms: 5th April 2010

On Easter Monday 2010 (5th April), an area of low pressure centred to the northwest of Ireland with a minimum pressure of around 967hPa on the midnight of the 6th. Winds associated with it were of a strong southwesterly direction bringing the windiest April conditions since 2004 at this time. Belmullet reached a maximum wind gust of 75 knots (86 mph OR 139 km/hr) at 13:53 on the 5th April 2010. Unusually, this was the highest wind gust of the entire year of 2010, even the 11 November windy spell did not beat it which was the windiest day of the year for most other places. Other places had maximum wind gusts generally in the 40-50 knot range on this day. 2010 was the calmest year on record for parts with record breaking low mean wind speeds between 6 and 10 knots so this Easter Monday windstorm was not only unusual because it took place in April but also how it took place in an unusually calm year.

It wasn't just about the wind as there was heavy rainfall associated with this low pressure with falls of more than 20mm on both the 5th and 6th in localised places. Valentia Observatory had 26.6mm of rain on the 5th whilst Ballyhaise had 27.2mm of rain on the 6th.

This storm was important for building up a long dry and sunny spell for us though during April 2010. By the 8th, high pressure approached from the south of around 1035hPa which stuck around us all the way to the 23rd with little to no parts having any rainfall at all throughout this period. Daytime temperatures were between low to mid teens mostly but getting up to 20c on the 10th and 11th in completely blue skies. Fantastic Spring weather! I'll remind here that April 2010 holds the Irish station monthly sunshine total record with Sherkin Island having 247.7 hours of sun during this month, 140% of its average April sunshine with an average of 8.26 hours of sun per day!

Remember this (for those that don't know obviously) as a lesson to learn, a storm could be a good sign for dry weather as shown in months such as April 2010, September 2014 and now April 2018.