In Dundalk, July heat, January chill and rainfall all sit near the middle of Irish towns
A typical July afternoon reaches 19.8°C, a January night drops to 2.7°C, and 851 mm of rain falls in a year. It is a dry place: less rain falls here than on 64% of Irish towns. Warming shows here too: 0.2°C more than in 1981–2010, led by May. Garden chairs stay out from June to September, the months with highs of 18–20°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Dundalk at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Dundalk’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Louth beside it.
What a year in Dundalk feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 851 mm of rain a year
November is the wettest month and April the driest. The wettest of 3 towns of 2,500+ in County Louth. The wettest month brings about 1.6 times the rain of the driest.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Living with Dundalk’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, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Averages smooth over storms, floods and heatwaves; Dundalk’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Dunsany
Dunsany is 56 km south of Dundalk, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 83 m above sea level; Dundalk’s centre, 4 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.7°C | 1.9°C | 75 mm | 8.0 |
| February | 8.3°C | 1.7°C | 61 mm | 8.3 |
| March | 9.9°C | 1.9°C | 66 mm | 7.9 |
| April | 12.7°C | 3.9°C | 48 mm | 3.5 |
| May | 15.3°C | 6.4°C | 57 mm | 0.6 |
| June | 18.1°C | 9.1°C | 71 mm | 0.0 |
| July | 19.4°C | 11.0°C | 83 mm | 0.0 |
| August | 18.6°C | 10.7°C | 88 mm | 0.0 |
| September | 16.8°C | 8.8°C | 79 mm | 0.2 |
| October | 13.7°C | 6.4°C | 80 mm | 1.4 |
| November | 10.0°C | 3.7°C | 98 mm | 4.5 |
| December | 8.0°C | 2.2°C | 84 mm | 8.3 |
| Year | 13.2°C | 5.6°C | 889 mm | 43 |
The table is Dunsany’s own record, averaged over 2006–2020 from its daily readings (ours, not a Met Éireann table). The rest of the page is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Dundalk itself: past 40 km, the station’s frosts and sunshine don’t stand for the town.
How Dundalk 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 Louth.
Warmer than it used to be
Dundalk’s 1991–2020 average is 0.2°C warmer than 1981–2010’s. The biggest change is in May (+0.4°C).
A year’s rain is 851 mm, up 3% from 828 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.
Dundalk and its neighbours
Every town next door is within half a degree of Dundalk 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dundalk | 19.8°C | 2.7°C | 851 mm |
| Dromiskin 7.6 km | 19.8°C about the same | 2.8°C about the same | 804 mm |
| Castlebellingham-Kilsaran 11 km | 19.7°C about the same | 2.8°C about the same | 798 mm |
| Carlingford 15 km | 19.5°C about the same | 3.1°C about the same | 1,053 mm |
| Ardee 18 km | 19.9°C about the same | 2.3°C about the same | 826 mm |
| Dunleer 18 km | 19.6°C about the same | 2.7°C about the same | 860 mm |
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
Dundalk 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 | 8.3°C | 2.7°C | 5.5°C | 79 mm |
| February | 8.9°C | 2.6°C | 5.7°C | 64 mm |
| March | 10.6°C | 3.4°C | 7.0°C | 61 mm |
| April | 12.8°C | 5.0°C | 8.9°C | 56 mm |
| May | 15.7°C | 7.4°C | 11.6°C | 57 mm |
| June | 18.2°C | 9.9°C | 14.1°C | 63 mm |
| July | 19.8°C | 11.9°C | 15.8°C | 70 mm |
| August | 19.5°C | 11.7°C | 15.6°C | 75 mm |
| September | 17.5°C | 9.9°C | 13.7°C | 68 mm |
| October | 14.1°C | 7.4°C | 10.7°C | 84 mm |
| November | 10.8°C | 4.7°C | 7.8°C | 90 mm |
| December | 8.6°C | 3.0°C | 5.8°C | 84 mm |
| Year | 13.7°C | 6.6°C | 10.2°C | 851 mm |
Where Dundalk’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 Dundalk’s population centre (0.4 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Dunsany, 56 km south, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Dunsany’s daily readings, 2006–2020, 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 Dundalk’s climate
How warm does Dundalk get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 19.8°C.
How cold does Dundalk get in winter?
February nights average 2.6°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 Dundalk get?
About 851 mm a year, less than 64% of Irish towns. November is the wettest month (90 mm) and April the driest (56 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 Dundalk itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Dunsany.
Are these figures for Dundalk itself?
Yes: they are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Dundalk’s population centre. The nearest of its synoptic weather stations, Dunsany, is 56 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 Dundalk’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 Dundalk →
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).