Few Irish towns have cooler summers than An Bun Beag
Deep winter brings January lows near 3.1°C. Winter and summer sit 15°C apart. Rain is plentiful here, more than falls on almost every Irish town. For walks and days out, July and August bring highs of 18°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in An Bun Beag at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about An Bun Beag’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Donegal beside it.
What a year in An Bun Beag feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 1,474 mm of rain a year
November is the wettest month and May the driest. 2nd wettest of 7 towns of 2,500+ in County Donegal. The wettest month brings about 2.0 times the rain of the driest.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Living with An Bun Beag’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: Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →Averages smooth over storms, floods and heatwaves; An Bun Beag’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Finner
Finner is 64 km south of An Bun Beag, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock.
| Distance from the town | 64 km south |
| Station altitude | 33 m |
| Town altitude (its centre) | 48 m |
The figures on this page are not this station’s readings: they are Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at An Bun Beag itself, which it builds from its whole network of stations.
How An Bun Beag 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 of 2,500+ in County Donegal.
Warmer than it used to be
An Bun Beag’s 1991–2020 average is 0.2°C warmer than 1981–2010’s. The biggest change is in February (+0.4°C).
A year’s rain is 1,474 mm, up 4% from 1,419 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.
Nearby towns’ climate
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Bun Beag | 17.6°C | 3.1°C | 1,474 mm |
| An Clochán Liath 14 km | 17.9°C about the same | 3.0°C about the same | 1,454 mm |
An Bun Beag 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 | 8.1°C | 3.1°C | 5.6°C | 150 mm |
| February | 8.4°C | 3.0°C | 5.7°C | 123 mm |
| March | 9.7°C | 3.9°C | 6.8°C | 104 mm |
| April | 12.0°C | 5.3°C | 8.6°C | 83 mm |
| May | 14.5°C | 7.4°C | 11.0°C | 82 mm |
| June | 16.5°C | 9.9°C | 13.2°C | 93 mm |
| July | 17.6°C | 11.6°C | 14.6°C | 120 mm |
| August | 17.7°C | 11.7°C | 14.7°C | 127 mm |
| September | 16.1°C | 10.2°C | 13.2°C | 120 mm |
| October | 13.1°C | 7.9°C | 10.5°C | 150 mm |
| November | 10.3°C | 5.4°C | 7.8°C | 165 mm |
| December | 8.5°C | 3.5°C | 6.0°C | 157 mm |
| Year | 12.7°C | 6.9°C | 9.8°C | 1,474 mm |
Where An Bun Beag’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 An Bun Beag’s population centre (0.7 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Finner, 64 km south, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Finner’s daily readings, 2011–2020, 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 An Bun Beag’s climate
How warm does An Bun Beag get in summer?
The warmest month is August, when afternoons average 17.7°C.
How cold does An Bun Beag get in winter?
February nights average 3.0°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 An Bun Beag get?
About 1,474 mm a year, more than almost every Irish town. November is the wettest month (165 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 An Bun Beag itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Finner.
Are these figures for An Bun Beag itself?
Yes: they are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at An Bun Beag’s population centre. The nearest of its synoptic weather stations, Finner, is 64 km south.
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 An Bun Beag’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 An Bun Beag →
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).