Hardly any Irish towns see fresher July days than Ballycastle
The depth of winter brings overnight lows near 3.1°C. The rainiest month is December; the driest is June. It is a wet place: more rain falls here than on almost every Irish town. Radiators earn their keep from November to April, the months that average under 10°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Ballycastle at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Ballycastle’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Mayo beside it.
What a year in Ballycastle feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 1,607 mm of rain a year
December is the wettest month and June the driest. The wettest of 7 towns of 2,500+ in County Mayo. The wettest month brings about 2.1 times the rain of the driest.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Living with Ballycastle’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; Ballycastle’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Newport
Newport is 42 km south of Ballycastle, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 22 m above sea level; Ballycastle’s centre, 58 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.6°C | 3.6°C | 174 mm | 3.0 |
| February | 8.9°C | 3.5°C | 152 mm | 2.6 |
| March | 10.5°C | 4.0°C | 129 mm | 1.8 |
| April | 13.4°C | 5.7°C | 85 mm | 0.1 |
| May | 15.5°C | 8.0°C | 101 mm | 0.0 |
| June | 17.7°C | 10.5°C | 93 mm | 0.0 |
| July | 18.6°C | 12.0°C | 115 mm | 0.0 |
| August | 18.0°C | 11.9°C | 144 mm | 0.0 |
| September | 16.7°C | 10.5°C | 150 mm | 0.0 |
| October | 14.2°C | 8.4°C | 148 mm | 0.0 |
| November | 10.7°C | 5.7°C | 186 mm | 0.5 |
| December | 9.0°C | 4.3°C | 194 mm | 1.9 |
| Year | 13.5°C | 7.3°C | 1,669 mm | 10 |
The table is Newport’s own record, averaged over 2005–2020 from its daily readings (ours, not a Met Éireann table). The rest of the page is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Ballycastle itself: past 40 km, the station’s frosts and sunshine don’t stand for the town.
How Ballycastle 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 Mayo.
Warmer than it used to be
Ballycastle’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 1,607 mm, up 1% from 1,584 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.
Ballycastle 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 | 174 mm |
| February | 8.5°C | 3.0°C | 5.8°C | 145 mm |
| March | 9.7°C | 3.9°C | 6.8°C | 123 mm |
| April | 11.9°C | 5.2°C | 8.6°C | 96 mm |
| May | 14.3°C | 7.4°C | 10.9°C | 93 mm |
| June | 16.2°C | 9.8°C | 13.0°C | 92 mm |
| July | 17.3°C | 11.5°C | 14.4°C | 104 mm |
| August | 17.4°C | 11.5°C | 14.4°C | 117 mm |
| September | 15.9°C | 10.1°C | 13.0°C | 125 mm |
| October | 13.1°C | 7.7°C | 10.4°C | 159 mm |
| November | 10.3°C | 5.3°C | 7.8°C | 184 mm |
| December | 8.5°C | 3.5°C | 6.0°C | 195 mm |
| Year | 12.6°C | 6.8°C | 9.7°C | 1,607 mm |
Where Ballycastle’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 Ballycastle’s population centre (0.5 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Newport, 42 km south, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Newport’s daily readings, 2005–2020, 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 Ballycastle’s climate
How warm does Ballycastle get in summer?
August is the warmest month, with average highs of 17.4°C.
How cold does Ballycastle get in winter?
The coldest nights come in February, averaging 3.0°C. Met Éireann counts frosts only at its weather stations, so there is no frost count for the town itself.
How much rain does Ballycastle get?
About 1,607 mm a year, more than almost every Irish town. December is the wettest month (195 mm) and June the driest (92 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 Ballycastle itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Newport.
Are these figures for Ballycastle itself?
Yes: they are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Ballycastle’s population centre. The nearest of its synoptic weather stations, Newport, is 42 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 Ballycastle’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 Ballycastle →
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).