page_title: Border Region
section_title: Physical Geography & Climate
hierarchical_section_title: Border Region / Geography / Physical Geography & Climate
caption_attribution_description: Glencar Waterfall - 2002-06-16 The waterfalls at Glencar Lough, Ireland.
context_page_description: The Border Region is a NUTS Level III statistical region of Ireland. The name of the region refers to its location along the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border. It is not a cross-border region, as it comprises the Irish counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo. The Border Region spans 11,516 km², 16.4% of the total area of the state, and has a population of 392,837 persons, 8.28% of the state total. Its NUTS code is IE041.
  Prior to 2014, the region was governed by the Border Regional Assembly. Statutory instrument No. 573/2014 abolished that assembly. Since that date, the association between Regional Assemblies and NUTS regions has ceased. The NUTS regions are used for statistical reporting to Eurostat, while the Regional Assemblies are responsible for planning at a local government level.
  The region's largest town is Letterkenny, followed closely by Sligo.
context_section_description: The region encompasses the entire northwest coast of Ireland along the Atlantic Ocean. Two of Ireland's longest rivers, the Shannon and the Erne, have their source in the region. The Shannon rises from the famed Shannon Pot in County Cavan and the Erne rises from Slieve Glah, also in County Cavan. The two rivers have been connected to form one of the world's longest waterways - the Shannon–Erne Waterway. Cavan and Monaghan in the east of the region are characterized by a drumlin landscape, with hundreds of loughs interspersed between. Lough Allen in Leitrim is the region's largest lake, at 35 km2.
  The west of the region, from Tullyhaw, County Cavan, to the Atlantic coast is largely rocky and mountainous, with dramatic coastal cliff landscapes as well as pure sand beaches seen in counties Sligo, Donegal and Leitrim. Leitrim has the smallest coastline of any county, at just 5 km in length, while Donegal has the longest, at 1,134 km.
  According to the 2017 National Forestry Inventory, there is a total of 130,345 hectares (322,090 acres) of forest and woodland cover in the Border Region, equating to 11.3% of the region's land area. This is in keeping with the national average forest cover of 11%. The region traditionally had a very low cover forest and planting schemes were undertaken by the Department of Agriculture or state-sponsored bodies such as Coillte. Forest cover in the region has increased rapidly in recent years, primarily driven by the emergence of Privately owned forests. This is especially evident in County Leitrim, which is now Ireland's most forested county at 18.9% forest cover, having overtaken County Wicklow, and up from just 12.9% in 2006. Unlike neighboring Donegal, where two-thirds of the county's forests are state-owned, over 50% of Leitrim's forests are under private ownership.
  Under Köppen climate classification, the region experiences a maritime temperate oceanic climate with cold winters, mild humid summers, and a lack of temperature extremes. Met Éireann has several monitoring stations across the region which record climate data. Summer daytime temperatures range between 15 °C (59 °F) and 22 °C (72 °F), with temperatures rarely going beyond 25 °C (77 °F). While the region generally experiences mild winters, upland areas, particularly in Donegal, typically receive snowfall each year. Humidity is high year round and rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year, with annual precipitation ranging from ∼1,250 mm (Markree Castle, Sligo) to  ∼1,000 mm (Ballyhaise, Cavan).
caption: Glencar Waterfall, County Leitrim
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