Hardly any Irish towns see softer January nights than Clonakilty
Expect July afternoons of about 19.5°C. A year here swings 15°C from midwinter lows to midsummer highs. Rain is plentiful here, more than falls on 97% of Irish towns. Homes need heating from November to April, the months averaging under 10°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Clonakilty at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Clonakilty’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Cork beside it.
What a year in Clonakilty feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 14 air frosts a year
Ground frosts, when the grass drops below 0°C, come on about 66 nights a year. Air frosts come mostly from December to March, most of all in January (about 3).
Air frosts by month
Average nights below 0°C
Ground frosts by month
Average nights with the grass below 0°C
Counted from Cork Airport’s daily readings, 1991–2020, 38 km north-east of Clonakilty: Met Éireann publishes these for its stations only. At that distance, read them as the area’s climate.
About 1,380 mm of rain a year
December is the wettest month and May the driest. 3rd wettest of 54 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Cork. The wettest month brings about 2.0 times the rain of the driest. Cork Airport records 1 mm or more on about 161 days a year, and 10 mm on about 39.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Sunshine by month
Hours, at Cork Airport
Heating a home in Clonakilty
84% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to April.
Degree days add up how far each day’s mean temperature falls below 15.5°C over a year.
Living with Clonakilty’s climate
What the averages mean for a garden, a free afternoon and a bad-weather day.
In half of years the last air frost at Cork Airport comes by 27 March and the first by 1 December: about 249 frost-free days in between.
Highs of 17–27°C with lows of 8°C or more: Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Averages smooth over storms, floods and heatwaves; Clonakilty’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Cork Airport
Cork Airport is 38 km north-east of Clonakilty, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 155 m above sea level; Clonakilty’s centre, 7 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts | Sun (hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.3°C | 3.3°C | 131 mm | 3.4 | 61 |
| February | 8.6°C | 3.1°C | 99 mm | 3.4 | 74 |
| March | 9.9°C | 3.7°C | 91 mm | 2.3 | 111 |
| April | 12.0°C | 5.1°C | 87 mm | 0.9 | 160 |
| May | 14.6°C | 7.4°C | 80 mm | 0.0 | 191 |
| June | 17.1°C | 9.9°C | 83 mm | 0.0 | 184 |
| July | 18.6°C | 11.6°C | 86 mm | 0.0 | 164 |
| August | 18.5°C | 11.5°C | 96 mm | 0.0 | 158 |
| September | 16.6°C | 10.0°C | 91 mm | 0.0 | 129 |
| October | 13.4°C | 7.7°C | 132 mm | 0.2 | 99 |
| November | 10.4°C | 5.2°C | 127 mm | 0.9 | 75 |
| December | 8.7°C | 3.8°C | 136 mm | 2.8 | 55 |
| Year | 13.1°C | 6.9°C | 1,240 mm | 14 | 1,461 |
The table is Cork Airport’s own record, averaged over 1991–2020 from its daily readings (ours, not a Met Éireann table). The temperatures and rain elsewhere on this page are Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Clonakilty itself; the frosts, sunshine and degree days are this station’s.
How Clonakilty compares
Against the 321 Irish towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from Met Éireann’s grid at its own centre, and its place among towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Cork.
Warmer than it used to be
Clonakilty’s 1991–2020 average is 0.2°C warmer than 1981–2010’s. The biggest change is in April (+0.4°C).
A year’s rain is 1,380 mm, up 4% from 1,327 mm.
Change by month
The two periods share 1991–2010, so the gap is a decade’s step, not the change between two separate 30-year periods.
Clonakilty and its neighbours
Dunmanway has the coldest January nights next door (3.3°C, 1.1°C colder). Choose a measure to recolour the map; tap a town for its climate.
The towns next door, side by side
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 19 km: a hill, a valley or the sea can make a real difference over a short distance.
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
Clonakilty weather by month
Average daily high and low, mean temperature and rain, 1991–2020, for the town itself (Met Éireann’s 1 km grid).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.8°C | 4.4°C | 7.1°C | 145 mm |
| February | 10.1°C | 4.3°C | 7.2°C | 117 mm |
| March | 11.2°C | 4.9°C | 8.1°C | 105 mm |
| April | 13.2°C | 6.1°C | 9.7°C | 90 mm |
| May | 15.7°C | 8.5°C | 12.1°C | 81 mm |
| June | 18.1°C | 10.9°C | 14.5°C | 90 mm |
| July | 19.5°C | 12.6°C | 16.0°C | 94 mm |
| August | 19.4°C | 12.5°C | 16.0°C | 104 mm |
| September | 17.8°C | 11.1°C | 14.4°C | 106 mm |
| October | 14.8°C | 8.9°C | 11.8°C | 141 mm |
| November | 11.9°C | 6.6°C | 9.2°C | 148 mm |
| December | 10.3°C | 4.9°C | 7.6°C | 160 mm |
| Year | 14.3°C | 8.0°C | 11.1°C | 1,380 mm |
How much a month can swing
December swings the most: over 30 years its average ranged from 1.7°C (2010) to 8.3°C (2018). May is the most reliable, staying within 3.2°C.
Where Clonakilty’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast: the town’s own from Met Éireann’s grid, the frosts, sunshine and degree days from its nearest station.
- Temperature and rain: Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid (Climatological Notes 22 and 23), read at the grid point nearest Clonakilty’s population centre (0.4 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Cork Airport, 38 km north-east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts, sunshine, degree days: Cork Airport’s daily readings from Met Éireann (clidata.met.ie), 1991–2020, averaged by month: a month counts when 27 or more of its days were read (rain and sunshine: every day), and a figure needs 10 such years.
- Then and now: Met Éireann’s 1981–2010 averages on the same 1 km grid, at the same point.
- Altitudes: the town’s ground from the Copernicus GLO-30 surface model (a few metres high in built-up places), the station’s from Met Éireann.
- Comparisons: every Irish town and city neighbourhood of 2,500 or more, read the same way; the five city totals are left out.
- Not on this page: snow and wind. Met Éireann publishes neither on a grid; the frosts and sunshine here are its nearest station’s, not the town’s own.
Met Éireann 30-year averages · Met Éireann open data. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Questions about Clonakilty’s climate
How warm does Clonakilty get in summer?
July is the warmest month, with average highs of 19.5°C.
How cold does Clonakilty get in winter?
The coldest nights come in February, averaging 4.3°C. At Cork Airport, the nearest Met Éireann station, the air drops below 0°C on about 14 nights a year (1991–2020).
How much rain does Clonakilty get?
About 1,380 mm a year, more than 97% of Irish towns. December is the wettest month (160 mm) and May the driest (81 mm).
How sunny is it?
Cork Airport, 38 km north-east, averages about 1,461 hours of sunshine a year (1991–2020, from its daily record). Met Éireann publishes no sunshine figure for the town itself.
Are these figures for Clonakilty itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Clonakilty’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Cork Airport, 38 km north-east, the nearest of its synoptic stations.
Where do these figures come from?
Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 climate averages, published as maps of Ireland in 1 km squares (Climatological Notes 22 and 23); the page reads the square at Clonakilty’s population centre. They are 30-year averages, not a forecast.
Copyright Met Éireann. Source: www.met.ie. This data is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Met Éireann does not accept any liability whatsoever for any error or omission in the data, their availability, or for any loss or damage arising from their use. This material has been modified from the original: TownRatings reads the 1 km grid at each town’s population centre. Today’s forecast for Clonakilty →
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).