IT won’t come as any major surprise to anyone that we’ve endured one of our wettest years in history, with 2023 rainfall in parts of the West of Ireland, around 15 inches above the long term average (LTA).

The pummelling of rain started in March, with July and our December just gone by, also breaking rainfall records for the western region.

Abbeyknockmoy weather recorder Brendan Geraghty had December as his wettest month of the year so far on 8.76 inches (222.5mms) of rainfall with March coming in at 7.65 inches (194mms) and July on 7.48 inches (190mms).

“While 2015 was a wetter year (61.13 inches or 1,553mms), 2023 brought us a lot of rainfall  — nearly 15.5 inches more than we had in 2021.

“Land is absolutely saturated and rivers have burst their banks in many areas, but at least from a farming point of view, stock are indoors and all we can hope for now is a dry spring,” Brendan Geraghty told the Farming Tribune.

The Athenry Met Eireann station recorded a rainfall total of almost 203mms (8 inches) for December but that still trailed behind its July figure of 224mms or 8.8 inches.

Pictured: Brendan Geraghty: Swollen rivers and saturated land.