ABBEYKNOCKMOY weather recorder Brendan Geraghty had his wettest three-day rain period at the start of October since the infamous flooding of November, 2009.

From Wednesday, October 1st onto Saturday, October 4th, he collected 3.28 inches of rainfall [83.3mms] – with last Thursday [Oct. 2nd], being the ‘day of the deluge’, when Brendan Geraghty’s total was 1.85 inches or 47mms.

“It was the wettest few days since November, 2009, when I had a rainfall measurement of 4.42 inches [112mms] for that three-day period [Nov. ‘09] from the 17th to the 19th.

“It’s little wonder that the rivers overflowed, resulting in flooded fields nearly everywhere, although the water levels have dropped considerably over the weekend and into the early days of this week,” Brendan Geraghty told the Farming Tribune. His September rainfall total of 4.55 inches [116mms],  over 16-days, mirrored the national trend and was almost three times more than Sept. 2024.

Statistically, the four month period – June to September inclusive – was quite a wet one with Brendan Geraghty having a total rainfall measurement of 18.6 inches [472mms], although that doesn’t tell the full story.

“A lot of the rainfall came in the form of heavier, concentrated downpours, but in-between, we had some very good drier spells.

“It was a great summer for grass growth and we always seemed to get that dry spell just when we needed it. A case in point was September, and the fine spell we got from the 18th to the 26th, which gave farmers the chance to get their last cut of silage,” said Brendan Geraghty.

Again, that pattern could be in line to repeat itself this month, with Met Éireann now forecasting a blocking area of high-pressure to dominate our weather pattern well into next week.

“A drier few weeks as we head towards November would be a great help to farmers, as there is still a lot of grass out there to be eaten up. It would help to shorten the winter,” said Brendan Geraghty.

He added that despite the heavier rainfall of the past four months, it could still end up being an ‘average rainfall year’ due to the fact that the January to May [inclusive] period was a lot drier than normal.

Pictured: Brendan Geraghty: Start of October was our wettest period since November, 2009.