Al's Blog from the Bog » weather

Phew! What a…washout!

Al — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:26:10 +0000

As if we needed to be told, the official weather data for August has been released by Met Eireann, revealing that August was another damp – or soaking – squib. Rainfall figures show that July and August have been, respectively, 1.6 and 2 times the average at the Belmullet weather station.

Here in Mayo we should be grateful, however, as some parts of Ireland have been far wetter, with nearly 4 times the seasonal average falling at Johnstown Castle in July, and 2.5 times the mean at Valencia in August.

Interestingly, the temperature and sunshine figures for Belmullet have been slightly above average, 6% & 7% respectively. The summary, then, is warmer and wetter, which happens to be just what the climate change model is predicting.

Gonna be another cold one…

Al — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:42:36 +0000

me in my work clothes

The temperature is plummeting again: 0.7C outside the window; a balmy 10C in the office. Last night’s ice didn’t melt during the day. Poor chickens, hope they make it through the night.

Here’s me at my desk, showing off my new corporate uniform!

Brrrrrr…it’s cold!

Al — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:06:07 +0000

Living on the west coast of Ireland we benefit from the North Atlantic Drift (a.k.a. Gulf Stream) which not only encourages the growth of unexpected plants, but also makes heavy frosts quite a rarity. Last night, however, was about as cold as I’ve ever experienced here thanks to the high pressure zone sitting on top of us at the moment. Even at 11am there was still plenty of ice around:

The cold, clear, crisp air and the crunch of frozen grass underfoot is rather pleasant, at least as a novelty. I hope it doesn’t stay cold for too long though, especially as it seems that our mains water pipe has frozen!