Donegal; floods
 

Someone wrote on the thread about November that it never deluges in Ireland? We have just been out helping rescue sheep and lambs from deeply-flooded fields after a night-long deluge has had the stream bursting its banks for the first time ever. The mountain opposite is one wholemass of water pouring down in a gale. Still sluicing down....

So the rhododendrons were wrong about the arrival of spring!

Well, no.Spring arrived beautifully We had no rain for a whole month, then the back pay came down all in one night! April showers getting in before the end of the month..Things are starting to normalise now as the streams run off into the ocean, but the fields are a mess. One ewe nearly drowned herself trying to find her lost lambs, bellowing loudly.. Wonder why the ocean never overflows.... Global warming has become a reality here.

Although the notion that it never deluges in Ireland is silly, I think the point was that generally, Ireland averages less rainfal per hour than many countries. In fact, here is the quote from the The Irish Meteorological Service:

Unlike the rain in many other countries, especially in the tropics, average hourly rainfall amounts in Ireland are quite low, ranging from 1 to 2mm. Short-term rates can of course be much higher: for example, an hourly total of 10mm is not uncommon and totals of 15 to 20mm in an hour may be expected to occur once in 5 years. Hourly totals exceeding 25mm are rare in this country and when they do occur they are usually associated with heavy thunderstorms.

There are some countries that the streams burst their banks regularly.

Bill

Hi Bill.... ever hear the one about statistics? Averages are meaningless also. And yes, and many lands have many feet of snow in winter too; and are prepared for it. When weather suddenly differs from the norm as it did this morning....And met eireann is not the most accurate of forcasters. Today's deluge had no thunder; and the like has never been seen here before. I have no idea what the actual rainfall was in yards or miles; suffice it that many lambs and ewes were in danger and the torrent was raging many feet deep on fields where usually not even a pool gathers.At least two lambs were lost, and we rescues many more in a dangerous situation. The normal is easy to cope with, but the last couple of years the climate here has changed seriously...

Anchoress,

My heart goes out to you and I wish that I were there to assist. Loss of livestock in any quantity is a heart break.

I have long ago learned to never trust meteorologists. I do better listening to my internal barometer.

Ireland has indeed been taken over by drastically diferent weather. I saw it in the heat wave that I encountered last summer and in the weather reports I have been receiving in emails from across Ireland. It is definitely hard to prepare for weather extremes.

I hope that there are no more deluges in your forseen future.

Slan Beo,

Bit

Thanks Bit. I came back because I thought I had been too harsh.. sorry if so, but it was a shocking experience indeed. These farmers are sturdy and it takes a lot to throw then like that. They were, literally, out of their depth; one had opened the doors of his outbuilding to find two feet of water in there; he was dazed. I just had to go down and see if there was anything I could do to get the tiny ones to safety. Getting far too old for stunts like that!!I am still chilled to the bone. The icy rain was a stinging on the face and hands,water everywhere in my clothes... and such a gale, and I was in over the tops of my wellies, trying to get to the lambs. Such a current too. Thankfully, the men rallied and got the rest of them out, and the land has taken up the slack now. Yes, it is changing here. The old ones know that. We have to adapt now. The weather all over this world of ours is changing now. So bring your waders!!! ( thankfully we have good wet gear shops here...)

ps.. just seen one of the forecasts for today!!!lol!
'Cooler weather for Wednesday. Long rainy spells will dampen parts of the West and Northwest throughout the day as any scattered showers elsewhere will gradually dissipate. Highs 10-14C. A moderate southwest to westerly wind. '

Anchoress,

On my first visit over, I was quickly introduced to the differences in one's thinking, weatherwise, depending on their location. One of the people in the pub I was in was complaining of the extended drought. I asked how long they had been without water. When he replied that they had been without "significant" water for 8 weeks, I was slightly amused. He thought to ask the reason for my amusement before taking offense, luckily. I explained that we had been without significant rainfall, at that point, for 8 years. We are still behind in our rainfall 4 years later, here.

I wish there was more that I could do, being a agri-person myself. However, since I cannot twitch my nose and be there to help you bail out water and gather up stock, I will send strong energy your way and many prayers.

Now, fix yourself a large cuppa and take off some of that chill!

Slan Beo,

Bit

Sorry, I'm not here to suggest that you are wrong and I'm sorry to hear of all of the problems. As Bit says, it would be great to be able to jump in and help, though the commute is more than I can fit in right now.

I'm trying to answer this from a tourist point of view. The flooding, as you say, is pretty rare and there are certainly major downpours. What I was trying to say from a tourist point of view is that I also understand that there are many many days in Ireland that the weather is a fine mist off and on all day. I know that you have terrific storms and have endured a few on my visits also.

When it rains here in Colorado it is usually in torrents and usually for less than an hour many times less than 10 minutes. Then the skies clear, the threats of tornadoes and lightening strikes begin to disipate and everyone relaxes. In other words, when it's raining, we tend to stay inside which is not so true in Ireland.

It's interesting here as yesterday we had one of those rare days where it rained all day. Oddly, south of us it snowed all day and some people got as much as 2 feet of snow. But up here, folks were acting like they would melt if the rain touched them. This was more of an Irish soft day, though almost cold enough to snow all day.

Every once in a while we get that truly rare, thunder snow storm. It's very strange.

So, if you told a person from Colorado that they might experience 5 or 6 hours of rain in a day, they would figure that there is no reason to visit. I actually find those raining days rather refreshing, as long as they aren't every day.

I hope that makes sense. I understand that things are a mess there for you right now. Hopefully things will clean up soon. Good luck.

Bill