Castlederg confirmed as holding NI's hottest day record

Castlederg in County Tyrone now officially holds the record for both Northern Ireland's highest and lowest temperatures.

During July's heat wave, the town recorded 31.3C in the afternoon of 21 July.

The following day, Armagh city provisionally recorded a higher temperature of 31.4C.

However, the weather station there failed subsequent verification checks carried out by the Met Office.

During the "big freeze" of December 2010, temperatures in Castlederg fell to -18.7C.

That is 50 degrees lower that its new hot record set last month.

Northern Ireland also had its third hottest July on record with an average temperature of 16.5C - that is almost 2C above normal.

It was also a sunnier and drier July than normal with 25% more sunshine and almost half the amount of rain normally recorded.