Few Irish towns have milder winter nights than Skibbereen
High summer brings afternoon highs near 19.3°C. It is a wet place: more rain falls here than on 98% of Irish towns. Compared with 1981–2010, the average now sits 0.2°C higher. Gritters and ice scrapers earn their keep on roughly 4 nights a year below 0°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Skibbereen at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Skibbereen’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 Skibbereen feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 4 air frosts a year
Ground frosts, when the grass drops below 0°C, come on about 25 nights a year. Air frosts come mostly from December, most of all in December (about 1).
Air frosts by month
Average nights below 0°C
Ground frosts by month
Average nights with the grass below 0°C
Counted from Sherkin Island’s daily readings, 2004–2020, 14 km south-west of Skibbereen: Met Éireann publishes these for its stations only.
About 1,406 mm of rain a year
December is the wettest month and May the driest. 2nd 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. Sherkin Island records 1 mm or more on about 164 days a year, and 10 mm on about 32.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Heating a home in Skibbereen
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 Skibbereen’s climate
What the averages mean for a garden, a free afternoon and a bad-weather day.
Frost comes in about 56% of winters at Sherkin Island, so tender plants can often stay out through winter.
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; Skibbereen’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Sherkin Island
Sherkin Island is 14 km south-west of Skibbereen, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 21 m above sea level; Skibbereen’s centre, 4 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.8°C | 5.8°C | 123 mm | 0.9 |
| February | 9.5°C | 5.3°C | 81 mm | 0.9 |
| March | 10.2°C | 5.5°C | 82 mm | 0.8 |
| April | 12.1°C | 6.9°C | 64 mm | 0.1 |
| May | 13.9°C | 9.0°C | 66 mm | 0.0 |
| June | 16.5°C | 11.4°C | 73 mm | 0.0 |
| July | 17.7°C | 12.8°C | 86 mm | 0.0 |
| August | 17.5°C | 12.8°C | 90 mm | 0.0 |
| September | 16.5°C | 11.8°C | 89 mm | 0.0 |
| October | 14.3°C | 10.1°C | 106 mm | 0.0 |
| November | 11.6°C | 7.4°C | 109 mm | 0.2 |
| December | 10.3°C | 6.4°C | 127 mm | 1.1 |
| Year | 13.3°C | 8.8°C | 1,095 mm | 4 |
The table is Sherkin Island’s own record, averaged over 2004–2020 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 Skibbereen itself; the frosts and degree days are this station’s.
How Skibbereen 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
Skibbereen’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 1,406 mm, up 5% from 1,342 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.
Skibbereen 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 | 9.9°C | 4.8°C | 7.3°C | 153 mm |
| February | 10.2°C | 4.7°C | 7.5°C | 123 mm |
| March | 11.3°C | 5.2°C | 8.3°C | 104 mm |
| April | 13.4°C | 6.5°C | 9.9°C | 90 mm |
| May | 15.6°C | 8.7°C | 12.2°C | 82 mm |
| June | 17.9°C | 11.1°C | 14.5°C | 90 mm |
| July | 19.3°C | 12.7°C | 16.0°C | 97 mm |
| August | 19.3°C | 12.8°C | 16.1°C | 103 mm |
| September | 17.8°C | 11.5°C | 14.6°C | 105 mm |
| October | 14.8°C | 9.3°C | 12.0°C | 146 mm |
| November | 11.9°C | 6.9°C | 9.4°C | 151 mm |
| December | 10.4°C | 5.3°C | 7.9°C | 163 mm |
| Year | 14.3°C | 8.3°C | 11.3°C | 1,406 mm |
How much a month can swing
December swings the most: over 17 years its average ranged from 4.0°C (2010) to 10.3°C (2015). August is the most reliable, staying within 1.7°C.
Where Skibbereen’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast: the town’s own from Met Éireann’s grid, the frosts 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 Skibbereen’s population centre (0.6 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Sherkin Island, 14 km south-west, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Sherkin Island’s daily readings from Met Éireann (clidata.met.ie), 2004–2020, 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: sunshine at this station, snow and wind. Met Éireann publishes none of them on a grid; the frosts 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 Skibbereen’s climate
How warm does Skibbereen get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 19.3°C.
How cold does Skibbereen get in winter?
February nights average 4.7°C, the coldest of the year. At Sherkin Island, the nearest Met Éireann station, the air drops below 0°C on about 4 nights a year (2004–2020).
How much rain does Skibbereen get?
About 1,406 mm a year, more than 98% of Irish towns. December is the wettest month (163 mm) and May the driest (82 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 Skibbereen itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Sherkin Island.
Are these figures for Skibbereen itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Skibbereen’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Sherkin Island, 14 km south-west, 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 Skibbereen’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 Skibbereen →
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).