2016 the Hottest Year Ever ?

http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-data.asp?Num=2275

In Ireland, 2016 was not the hottest year ever. Not by a long shot. As readers of this blog will know by now, Valentia is a very reliable record as it's among the oldest there is and is not tainted by the urban heat effect. Even Phoenix Park in Dublin City, which does suffer from the urban heat bias, doesn't show any record breaking heat. 

Irish Temperature Records - Running Hot or Cold ?

According to NASA, temperatures at Valentia increased in 2015 : 

GISS Data

However, the actual data from Valentia shows temperatures dropping in 2015 :

Met Eireann Data (Irish Met Office)

Met Eireann Data (Irish Met Office)

Valentia Observatory Records Record Rainfall

On October 4th, Valentia Observatory recorded it's highest level of rainfall in a single day since the station opened 150 years ago. There was 105.5mm of rain in 24 hours. The same station also recorded it's wettest September in 10 years and December 2015 was the wettest December on record.  However, May 2016 was a remarkably dry month, well below average.

  
To get the bigger picture to see what is going on, I've taken a look at mean air temperature records. 

Previous very wet years were 1924, 1930, 1946, 1947, 2002, 2008 and 2009. Is there a trend of floods and heavy rainfall occurring directly after years of warming ?

The past five years were cooler than the warming peak of the 2000's. We will have to see how 2016 plays out. So far, 2016 is over half a degree warmer than 2015 (up to September). This makes 2016 warmer than any of the last five years but still cooler than the 2000s. 

The sea surface temperature maps still show a large body of cool water out in the Atlantic :

Compare with 2006 and 2007 :

A colder Atlantic would normally mean a colder winter in Ireland.