Photo: Alan Reid · CC BY-SA 2.0Hardly any Irish towns see fresher July days than Kilmacrennan
Deep winter brings January lows near 2.2°C. By rainfall alone, it ranks wetter than 98% of Irish towns. Decade by decade the climate has edged up, 0.3°C above 1981–2010. Garden chairs stay out from June to August, the months with highs of 17–19°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Kilmacrennan at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Kilmacrennan’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Donegal beside it.
What a year in Kilmacrennan feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 1,388 mm of rain a year
December is the wettest month and May the driest. 3rd 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 Kilmacrennan’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 and Aug.
Parks & trails →Averages smooth over storms, floods and heatwaves; Kilmacrennan’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Malin Head
Malin Head is 47 km north-east of Kilmacrennan, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 20 m above sea level; Kilmacrennan’s centre, 32 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts | Sun (hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.2°C | 3.9°C | 119 mm | 1.8 | 41 |
| February | 8.4°C | 3.8°C | 95 mm | 1.5 | 74 |
| March | 9.4°C | 4.4°C | 81 mm | 1.1 | 121 |
| April | 11.1°C | 5.8°C | 64 mm | 0.2 | 169 |
| May | 13.2°C | 7.8°C | 65 mm | 0.0 | 216 |
| June | 15.2°C | 10.2°C | 74 mm | 0.0 | 166 |
| July | 16.9°C | 11.9°C | 86 mm | 0.0 | 147 |
| August | 17.1°C | 12.1°C | 98 mm | 0.0 | 142 |
| September | 15.8°C | 10.8°C | 95 mm | 0.0 | 112 |
| October | 13.2°C | 8.6°C | 110 mm | 0.0 | 83 |
| November | 10.5°C | 6.2°C | 122 mm | 0.3 | 45 |
| December | 8.8°C | 4.4°C | 131 mm | 1.3 | 35 |
| Year | 12.3°C | 7.5°C | 1,138 mm | 6 | 1,348 |
The table is Malin Head’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 Kilmacrennan itself: past 40 km, the station’s frosts and sunshine don’t stand for the town.
How Kilmacrennan 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
Kilmacrennan’s 1991–2020 average is 0.3°C warmer than 1981–2010’s. The biggest change is in February (+0.4°C).
A year’s rain is 1,388 mm, up 5% from 1,321 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.
Kilmacrennan and its neighbours
Every town next door is within half a degree of Kilmacrennan in January and July. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kilmacrennan | 18.7°C | 2.2°C | 1,388 mm |
| Ramelton 7.7 km | 18.9°C about the same | 2.4°C about the same | 1,189 mm |
| Letterkenny 8.3 km | 18.8°C about the same | 2.0°C about the same | 1,280 mm |
| Milford 8.5 km | 18.6°C about the same | 2.2°C about the same | 1,453 mm |
| Newtowncunningham 17 km | 18.9°C about the same | 2.3°C about the same | 1,120 mm |
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
Kilmacrennan 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 | 8.0°C | 2.2°C | 5.1°C | 153 mm |
| February | 8.5°C | 2.2°C | 5.4°C | 124 mm |
| March | 10.1°C | 3.1°C | 6.6°C | 104 mm |
| April | 12.6°C | 4.6°C | 8.6°C | 84 mm |
| May | 15.4°C | 6.9°C | 11.2°C | 82 mm |
| June | 17.4°C | 9.4°C | 13.4°C | 86 mm |
| July | 18.7°C | 11.3°C | 15.0°C | 98 mm |
| August | 18.6°C | 11.2°C | 14.9°C | 110 mm |
| September | 16.7°C | 9.4°C | 13.0°C | 104 mm |
| October | 13.4°C | 6.9°C | 10.1°C | 133 mm |
| November | 10.4°C | 4.4°C | 7.4°C | 148 mm |
| December | 8.4°C | 2.5°C | 5.5°C | 164 mm |
| Year | 13.2°C | 6.2°C | 9.7°C | 1,388 mm |
Where Kilmacrennan’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 Kilmacrennan’s population centre (0.6 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Malin Head, 47 km north-east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Malin Head’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 Kilmacrennan’s climate
How warm does Kilmacrennan get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 18.7°C.
How cold does Kilmacrennan get in winter?
January nights average 2.2°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 Kilmacrennan get?
About 1,388 mm a year, more than 98% of Irish towns. December is the wettest month (164 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 Kilmacrennan itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Malin Head.
Are these figures for Kilmacrennan itself?
Yes: they are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Kilmacrennan’s population centre. The nearest of its synoptic weather stations, Malin Head, is 47 km north-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 Kilmacrennan’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 Kilmacrennan →
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).