More rain falls on Rathcoole than on 91% of Irish towns: 1,271 mm a year
Midwinter brings lows of about 2.9°C. Only 17°C separates winter nights from summer afternoons. By July afternoons alone, it runs cooler than 77% of Irish towns. For walks and days out, the stretch from June to September brings highs of 18–20°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Rathcoole at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Rathcoole’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 Rathcoole feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 1,271 mm of rain a year
December is the wettest month and June the driest. 6th wettest of 55 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Cork. The wettest month brings about 2.0 times the rain of the driest.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Living with Rathcoole’s climate
What the averages mean for a garden, a free afternoon and a bad-weather day.
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; Rathcoole’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Cork Airport
Cork Airport is 44 km south-east of Rathcoole, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 155 m above sea level; Rathcoole’s centre, 97 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 rest of the page is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Rathcoole itself: past 40 km, the station’s frosts and sunshine don’t stand for the town.
How Rathcoole 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
Rathcoole’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 1,271 mm, up 4% from 1,223 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.
Rathcoole and its neighbours
Newmarket has the coldest January nights next door (2.4°C, 0.5°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.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rathcoole | 19.6°C | 2.9°C | 1,271 mm |
| Millstreet 6.9 km | 19.4°C about the same | 2.7°C about the same | 1,479 mm |
| Kanturk 11 km | 19.6°C about the same | 2.7°C about the same | 1,150 mm |
| Newmarket 13 km | 19.2°C about the same | 2.4°C 0.5°C colder | 1,324 mm |
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
Rathcoole 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 | 8.9°C | 2.9°C | 5.9°C | 145 mm |
| February | 9.4°C | 2.8°C | 6.1°C | 110 mm |
| March | 11.0°C | 3.5°C | 7.2°C | 93 mm |
| April | 13.4°C | 4.8°C | 9.1°C | 90 mm |
| May | 16.0°C | 7.2°C | 11.6°C | 77 mm |
| June | 18.4°C | 9.8°C | 14.1°C | 74 mm |
| July | 19.6°C | 11.6°C | 15.6°C | 79 mm |
| August | 19.5°C | 11.4°C | 15.4°C | 88 mm |
| September | 17.6°C | 9.7°C | 13.7°C | 91 mm |
| October | 14.2°C | 7.2°C | 10.7°C | 132 mm |
| November | 11.1°C | 4.7°C | 7.9°C | 143 mm |
| December | 9.2°C | 3.3°C | 6.2°C | 148 mm |
| Year | 14.0°C | 6.6°C | 10.3°C | 1,271 mm |
Where Rathcoole’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- 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 Rathcoole’s population centre (0.3 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Cork Airport, 44 km south-east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Cork Airport’s daily readings, 1991–2020, in the station table only: past 40 km they don’t stand for the town.
- 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: sunshine, frost days, warm days, snow and wind. Met Éireann publishes no 1991–2020 grid for them, only tables for its stations, so no town has a figure of its own.
Met Éireann 30-year averages · Met Éireann open data. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Questions about Rathcoole’s climate
How warm does Rathcoole get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 19.6°C.
How cold does Rathcoole get in winter?
February nights average 2.8°C, the coldest of the year. Met Éireann counts frosts only at its weather stations, so there is no frost count for the town itself.
How much rain does Rathcoole get?
About 1,271 mm a year, more than 91% of Irish towns. December is the wettest month (148 mm) and June the driest (74 mm).
How sunny is it?
Met Éireann publishes its 1991–2020 sunshine averages for its weather stations only, not on the 1 km grid this page reads, so there is no sunshine figure for Rathcoole itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Cork Airport.
Are these figures for Rathcoole itself?
Yes: they are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Rathcoole’s population centre. The nearest of its synoptic weather stations, Cork Airport, is 44 km south-east.
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 Rathcoole’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 Rathcoole →
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).