As you can see from looking out your window, we're having some pretty rotten weather at the moment. On a day which looks more like winter than mid-May, climatologist Prof John Sweeney from Maynooth University joined RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland to talk about just what the heck is going on. (This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been edited for length and clarity - full discussion below).
The weather is particulary brutal right now, especially compared to last year. "It's quite a contrast and quite a shock to the system when you remember those early days of lockdown last year when the sun shining every day and it was really dry", says Sweeney.
"We're about 3 degrees cooler than usual. Though we're over halfway through May, the average temperature for the month at this stage is akin to the average for April. We're seeing a burst of cold weather thanks to cold snaps from the north. At the moment, we're getting a strng of depressions from the Atlantic going almost directly across the country. Today looks particularly bad."
The bad news? "We just have to accept that this is part and parcel of Irish climate", says Sweeney as the entire country rolls over and decides to stay in bed. "We can get these kinds of conditions in any year."
The good news? "This won't last forever and we'll eventually get to more settled conditions, probably by the middle of next week."
Does this mean we're in for a good summer? "We've become more skilfull at seasonal predctions but Is wouldn't like to be drawn on saying this is an indication of anythng happening late rin the summer We'll justhave to wait and see whats thrown at us
Hear the discussion in full below
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