Re-investigating Ireland’s minimum air temperature record value at Markree Castle, 16 January 1881

It is essential to have validated and trusted records of past climate extremes.

These records are used by planners and policymakers to help them make informed decisions regarding many different sectors - from construction projects to health budgets, from environmental legislation to infrastructure planning, for example.

They are also used to tune and improve climate models, leading to more reliable future projections in a changing climate. Assessing and improving on the abilities of climate models to reproduce these (by definition) rare events, provides a stronger basis from which better informed mitigation and adaptation measures against such potential future climate extremes can be taken.

To date, we have completed and published a reassessment of the overall maximum air temperature record for Ireland (in work which was presented at EMS 2024).

Continuing with our reassessment of national climate records, the aim of this current research is to re-examine Ireland’s overall minimum air temperature record – which was observed at Markree Castle on the 16^th of January 1881.

We use recently digitised historical climate data from the Met Éireann archives and integrate advanced 20CRv3 sparse-input reanalysis data, station metadata, historical newspaper articles, and contemporaneous references from the examined timeframe. We also employ time series methods and extreme value theory to help us assess the veracity of the record.

This process will then be applied to other months and other climate variables in future work. This research underscores the significance of data rescue efforts in advancing our understanding of past climate extremes, and advocates for continued digitisation and analysis of historical climate data and metadata. By refining national air temperature records through the integration of historical data and advanced reanalysis techniques, the research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of climate dynamics.