Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Cill Charthaigh sits near the bottom of Irish towns for July heat
On a normal January night the air cools to about 3.4°C. Rain is plentiful here, more than falls on almost every Irish town. Decade by decade the climate has edged up, 0.2°C above 1981–2010. 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 Cill Charthaigh at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Cill Charthaigh’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Donegal beside it.
What a year in Cill Charthaigh feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 1,751 mm of rain a year
November is the wettest month and April the driest. The 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 Cill Charthaigh’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; Cill Charthaigh’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Finner
Finner is 27 km south-east of Cill Charthaigh, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock.
| Distance from the town | 27 km south-east |
| Station altitude | 33 m |
| Town altitude (its centre) | 55 m |
The figures on this page are not this station’s readings: they are Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Cill Charthaigh itself, which it builds from its whole network of stations.
How Cill Charthaigh 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
Cill Charthaigh’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 1,751 mm, up 5% from 1,667 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cill Charthaigh | 17.5°C | 3.4°C | 1,751 mm |
| Killybegs 9.2 km | 17.9°C about the same | 3.0°C about the same | 1,771 mm |
Cill Charthaigh 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 | 8.2°C | 3.4°C | 5.8°C | 180 mm |
| February | 8.6°C | 3.3°C | 6.0°C | 145 mm |
| March | 9.7°C | 4.1°C | 6.9°C | 130 mm |
| April | 11.9°C | 5.6°C | 8.8°C | 96 mm |
| May | 14.3°C | 7.7°C | 11.0°C | 102 mm |
| June | 16.3°C | 10.0°C | 13.2°C | 104 mm |
| July | 17.5°C | 11.7°C | 14.6°C | 135 mm |
| August | 17.6°C | 11.9°C | 14.7°C | 147 mm |
| September | 16.1°C | 10.5°C | 13.3°C | 147 mm |
| October | 13.2°C | 8.2°C | 10.7°C | 176 mm |
| November | 10.5°C | 5.7°C | 8.1°C | 196 mm |
| December | 8.6°C | 3.8°C | 6.2°C | 194 mm |
| Year | 12.7°C | 7.2°C | 9.9°C | 1,751 mm |
Where Cill Charthaigh’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 Cill Charthaigh’s population centre (0.4 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Finner, 27 km south-east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Finner’s daily readings from Met Éireann (clidata.met.ie), 2011–2020, 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 Cill Charthaigh’s climate
How warm does Cill Charthaigh get in summer?
August is the warmest month, with average highs of 17.6°C.
How cold does Cill Charthaigh get in winter?
The coldest nights come in February, averaging 3.3°C. Met Éireann counts frosts only at its weather stations, so there is no frost count for the town itself.
How much rain does Cill Charthaigh get?
About 1,751 mm a year, more than almost every Irish town. November is the wettest month (196 mm) and April the driest (96 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 Cill Charthaigh itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Finner.
Are these figures for Cill Charthaigh itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Cill Charthaigh’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Finner, 27 km south-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 Cill Charthaigh’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 Cill Charthaigh →
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).