Hardly any Irish towns see hotter July days than Newcastle
Midwinter brings lows of about 2.7°C. By rainfall alone, it ranks wetter than 88% of Irish towns. Decade by decade the climate has edged up, 0.2°C above 1981–2010. Gritters and ice scrapers earn their keep on roughly 43 nights a year below 0°C.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Newcastle at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Newcastle’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in County Tipperary beside it.
What a year in Newcastle feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
43 frosts and 3 days of 25°C a year
Air frosts come mostly from October to April, most of all in January (about 9).
Air frosts by month
Average nights below 0°C
Counted from Moore Park’s daily readings, 2004–2020, 33 km west of Newcastle: Met Éireann publishes these for its stations only. At that distance, read them as the area’s climate.
About 1,208 mm of rain a year
November is the wettest month and July the driest. 2nd wettest of 10 towns of 2,500+ in County Tipperary. The wettest month brings about 1.9 times the rain of the driest. Moore Park records 1 mm or more on about 162 days a year, and 10 mm on about 31.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Heating a home in Newcastle
85% 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 Newcastle’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 Moore Park comes by 22 April and the first by 29 October: about 190 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; Newcastle’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Moore Park
Moore Park is 33 km west of Newcastle, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 46 m above sea level; Newcastle’s centre, 34 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.0°C | 2.4°C | 111 mm | 8.8 |
| February | 9.1°C | 2.1°C | 77 mm | 8.7 |
| March | 10.7°C | 2.4°C | 78 mm | 7.6 |
| April | 13.3°C | 4.3°C | 67 mm | 2.8 |
| May | 15.9°C | 7.0°C | 61 mm | 0.3 |
| June | 18.6°C | 9.7°C | 76 mm | 0.0 |
| July | 19.8°C | 11.5°C | 77 mm | 0.0 |
| August | 19.2°C | 10.9°C | 90 mm | 0.0 |
| September | 17.5°C | 9.0°C | 77 mm | 0.1 |
| October | 14.4°C | 6.7°C | 107 mm | 1.1 |
| November | 10.9°C | 4.0°C | 107 mm | 5.3 |
| December | 9.3°C | 2.9°C | 113 mm | 8.3 |
| Year | 14.0°C | 6.1°C | 1,041 mm | 43 |
The table is Moore 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 Newcastle itself; the frosts and degree days are this station’s.
How Newcastle 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 Tipperary.
Warmer than it used to be
Newcastle’s 1991–2020 average is 0.2°C warmer than 1981–2010’s. The biggest change is in April (+0.4°C).
A year’s rain is 1,208 mm, up 3% from 1,172 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.
Newcastle and its neighbours
Every town next door is within half a degree of Newcastle 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.
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
Newcastle 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 | 9.0°C | 2.7°C | 5.8°C | 134 mm |
| February | 9.5°C | 2.7°C | 6.1°C | 100 mm |
| March | 11.2°C | 3.6°C | 7.4°C | 91 mm |
| April | 13.6°C | 5.0°C | 9.3°C | 85 mm |
| May | 16.3°C | 7.5°C | 11.9°C | 77 mm |
| June | 18.9°C | 10.0°C | 14.5°C | 77 mm |
| July | 20.3°C | 12.0°C | 16.1°C | 72 mm |
| August | 20.1°C | 11.6°C | 15.8°C | 85 mm |
| September | 18.1°C | 9.8°C | 13.9°C | 87 mm |
| October | 14.6°C | 7.3°C | 10.9°C | 129 mm |
| November | 11.3°C | 4.6°C | 8.0°C | 138 mm |
| December | 9.4°C | 3.1°C | 6.2°C | 134 mm |
| Year | 14.3°C | 6.7°C | 10.5°C | 1,208 mm |
How much a month can swing
December swings the most: over 17 years its average ranged from 0.6°C (2010) to 9.0°C (2015). May is the most reliable, staying within 2.5°C.
Where Newcastle’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 Newcastle’s population centre (0.3 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Moore Park, 33 km west, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Moore 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 Newcastle’s climate
How warm does Newcastle get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 20.3°C.
How cold does Newcastle get in winter?
January nights average 2.7°C, the coldest of the year. At Moore Park, the nearest Met Éireann station, the air drops below 0°C on about 43 nights a year (2004–2020).
How much rain does Newcastle get?
About 1,208 mm a year, more than 88% of Irish towns. November is the wettest month (138 mm) and July the driest (72 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 Newcastle itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Moore Park.
Are these figures for Newcastle itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Newcastle’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Moore Park, 33 km west, 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 Newcastle’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 Newcastle →
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).