The Swan has some of the coldest winter nights among Irish towns
On a normal July day the thermometer tops out near 19.5°C. Only 18°C separates winter nights from summer afternoons. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 82% of Irish towns. The heating season runs October to April: each of those months averages under 10°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in The Swan at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about The Swan’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Laois beside it.
What a year in The Swan feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
35 frosts and 4 days of 25°C a year
Ground frosts, when the grass drops below 0°C, come on about 105 nights a year. Air frosts come mostly from November to April, most of all in February (about 8).
Air frosts by month
Average nights below 0°C
Ground frosts by month
Average nights with the grass below 0°C
Counted from Oak Park’s daily readings, 2004–2020, 16 km east of The Swan: Met Éireann publishes these for its stations only.
About 1,043 mm of rain a year
November is the wettest month and May the driest. The wettest of 4 towns of 2,500+ in County Laois. The wettest month brings about 1.7 times the rain of the driest. Oak Park records 1 mm or more on about 143 days a year, and 10 mm on about 24.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Heating a home in The Swan
86% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Degree days add up how far each day’s mean temperature falls below 15.5°C over a year.
Living with The Swan’s climate
What the averages mean for a garden, a free afternoon and a bad-weather day.
In half of years the last air frost at Oak Park comes by 18 April and the first by 3 November: about 199 frost-free days in between.
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; The Swan’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Oak Park
Oak Park is 16 km east of The Swan, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 62 m above sea level; The Swan’s centre, 183 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.3°C | 2.3°C | 79 mm | 7.0 |
| February | 8.6°C | 2.1°C | 65 mm | 7.7 |
| March | 10.5°C | 2.5°C | 64 mm | 6.2 |
| April | 13.3°C | 4.4°C | 48 mm | 1.5 |
| May | 16.1°C | 6.9°C | 49 mm | 0.3 |
| June | 18.8°C | 9.6°C | 63 mm | 0.0 |
| July | 20.4°C | 11.5°C | 70 mm | 0.0 |
| August | 19.7°C | 11.2°C | 83 mm | 0.0 |
| September | 17.8°C | 9.3°C | 66 mm | 0.1 |
| October | 14.3°C | 7.0°C | 94 mm | 0.6 |
| November | 10.4°C | 4.1°C | 92 mm | 4.4 |
| December | 8.5°C | 2.6°C | 93 mm | 7.6 |
| Year | 13.9°C | 6.1°C | 864 mm | 35 |
The table is Oak Park’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 The Swan itself; the frosts and degree days are this station’s.
How The Swan 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 Laois.
Warmer than it used to be
The Swan’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 1,043 mm, up 3% from 1,015 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.
The Swan and its neighbours
Athy has the warmest July afternoons (20.4°C, 0.9°C warmer). 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Swan | 19.5°C | 1.4°C | 1,043 mm |
| Ballylinan 9.8 km | 20.1°C 0.6°C warmer | 2.0°C 0.6°C milder | 937 mm |
| Castlecomer 10 km | 19.8°C about the same | 1.7°C about the same | 999 mm |
| Abbeyleix 13 km | 19.9°C about the same | 1.9°C 0.5°C milder | 914 mm |
| Stradbally 14 km | 20.1°C 0.6°C warmer | 2.0°C 0.6°C milder | 915 mm |
| Ballyragget 16 km | 20.2°C 0.7°C warmer | 2.2°C 0.8°C milder | 917 mm |
| Athy 16 km | 20.4°C 0.9°C warmer | 2.2°C 0.8°C milder | 835 mm |
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
The Swan 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 | 7.6°C | 1.4°C | 4.5°C | 102 mm |
| February | 8.2°C | 1.3°C | 4.8°C | 81 mm |
| March | 10.1°C | 2.3°C | 6.2°C | 73 mm |
| April | 12.6°C | 3.7°C | 8.1°C | 69 mm |
| May | 15.4°C | 6.1°C | 10.8°C | 68 mm |
| June | 18.0°C | 8.8°C | 13.4°C | 74 mm |
| July | 19.5°C | 10.8°C | 15.2°C | 73 mm |
| August | 19.2°C | 10.5°C | 14.8°C | 85 mm |
| September | 16.9°C | 8.5°C | 12.7°C | 84 mm |
| October | 13.4°C | 5.9°C | 9.7°C | 112 mm |
| November | 9.9°C | 3.2°C | 6.5°C | 112 mm |
| December | 7.8°C | 1.6°C | 4.7°C | 110 mm |
| Year | 13.2°C | 5.3°C | 9.3°C | 1,043 mm |
How much a month can swing
December swings the most: over 17 years its average ranged from −0.8°C (2010) to 8.6°C (2015). May is the most reliable, staying within 2.4°C.
Where The Swan’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 The Swan’s population centre (0.1 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Oak Park, 16 km east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Oak Park’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 The Swan’s climate
How warm does The Swan get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 19.5°C.
How cold does The Swan get in winter?
February nights average 1.3°C, the coldest of the year. At Oak Park, the nearest Met Éireann station, the air drops below 0°C on about 35 nights a year (2004–2020).
How much rain does The Swan get?
About 1,043 mm a year, more than 64% of Irish towns. November is the wettest month (112 mm) and May the driest (68 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 The Swan itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Oak Park.
Are these figures for The Swan itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at The Swan’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Oak Park, 16 km 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 The Swan’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 The Swan →
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).