Summary: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
Int. J. Climatol. 25: 10551079 (2005)
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/joc.1148
AIR TEMPERATURES AT ARMAGH OBSERVATORY, NORTHERN IRELAND,
FROM 1796 TO 2002
C. J. BUTLER,* A. M. GARC´IA SU ´AREZ, A. D. S. COUGHLIN and C. MORRELL
Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, Northern Ireland, UK
Received 5 May 2004
Revised 15 November 2004
Accepted 15 November 2004
Three independent mean temperature series for Armagh Observatory, covering the period 17962002 have been calibrated
and corrected for the time of reading and exposure. Agreement between the three series is good in regions of overlap.
With a short gap in the Armagh data from 1825 to 1833 filled by data from two stations in Dublin, the resulting series
is the longest for the island of Ireland and one of the longest for any single site in the British Isles.
Over the past 207 years, we note that temperatures in Armagh, in all seasons, show a gradual overall trend upwards.
However, there are seasonal differences: summer and spring temperatures have increased by only half as much as those in
autumn and winter. This is partly due to the exceptionally cold winters and autumns experienced prior to 1820. Relative
to the overall trend, warm periods occurred in Ireland, as in other parts of Europe, in the mid-19th century, in the
mid-20th century and at the end of the 20th century. Relatively cool temperatures prevailed in the early 19th century, in