Kells has some of the coldest winter nights among Irish towns
The warmest part of a July day comes in at 19.7°C on average. The rainiest month is November; the driest is May. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 67% of Irish towns. Long walks are most pleasant from June to September, when afternoons reach 17–20°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Kells at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Kells’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Meath beside it.
What a year in Kells feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
43 frosts and 2 days of 25°C a year
Air frosts come mostly from October to April, most of all in February (about 8).
Air frosts by month
Average nights below 0°C
Counted from Dunsany’s daily readings, 2006–2020, 28 km south-east of Kells: Met Éireann publishes these for its stations only. At that distance, read them as the area’s climate.
About 931 mm of rain a year
November is the wettest month and May the driest. The wettest of 12 towns of 2,500+ in County Meath. The wettest month brings about 1.6 times the rain of the driest. Dunsany records 1 mm or more on about 149 days a year, and 10 mm on about 23.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Heating a home in Kells
84% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to April.
Degree days add up how far each day’s mean temperature falls below 15.5°C over a year.
Living with Kells’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 Dunsany comes by 29 April and the first by 25 October: about 179 frost-free days in between.
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; Kells’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Dunsany
Dunsany is 28 km south-east of Kells, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 83 m above sea level; Kells’s centre, 81 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 temperatures and rain elsewhere on this page are Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Kells itself; the frosts and degree days are this station’s.
How Kells 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 Meath.
Warmer than it used to be
Kells’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 931 mm, up 1% from 918 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.
Kells and its neighbours
Every town next door is within half a degree of Kells 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kells | 19.7°C | 1.8°C | 931 mm |
| Mullagh 10 km | 19.5°C about the same | 1.6°C about the same | 1,004 mm |
| Athboy 12 km | 19.9°C about the same | 1.9°C about the same | 916 mm |
| Navan 16 km | 20.0°C about the same | 2.1°C about the same | 865 mm |
| Virginia 18 km | 19.5°C about the same | 1.7°C about the same | 1,043 mm |
| Oldcastle 19 km | 19.5°C about the same | 1.7°C about the same | 1,022 mm |
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
Kells 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 | 7.8°C | 1.8°C | 4.8°C | 86 mm |
| February | 8.5°C | 1.7°C | 5.1°C | 72 mm |
| March | 10.3°C | 2.7°C | 6.5°C | 66 mm |
| April | 12.8°C | 4.2°C | 8.5°C | 64 mm |
| May | 15.7°C | 6.6°C | 11.1°C | 60 mm |
| June | 18.2°C | 9.3°C | 13.8°C | 72 mm |
| July | 19.7°C | 11.3°C | 15.5°C | 77 mm |
| August | 19.4°C | 11.0°C | 15.2°C | 83 mm |
| September | 17.2°C | 9.0°C | 13.1°C | 71 mm |
| October | 13.6°C | 6.4°C | 10.0°C | 93 mm |
| November | 10.2°C | 3.7°C | 7.0°C | 95 mm |
| December | 8.0°C | 2.0°C | 5.0°C | 94 mm |
| Year | 13.4°C | 5.8°C | 9.6°C | 931 mm |
How much a month can swing
December swings the most: over 15 years its average ranged from −1.0°C (2010) to 8.0°C (2015). August is the most reliable, staying within 2.1°C.
Where Kells’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 Kells’s population centre (0.1 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Dunsany, 28 km south-east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Dunsany’s daily readings from Met Éireann (clidata.met.ie), 2006–2020, 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 Kells’s climate
How warm does Kells get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 19.7°C.
How cold does Kells get in winter?
February nights average 1.7°C, the coldest of the year. At Dunsany, the nearest Met Éireann station, the air drops below 0°C on about 43 nights a year (2006–2020).
How much rain does Kells get?
About 931 mm a year, less than 51% of Irish towns. November is the wettest month (95 mm) and May the driest (60 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 Kells itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Dunsany.
Are these figures for Kells itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Kells’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Dunsany, 28 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 Kells’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 Kells →
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).