Half-century record of no westerly Atlantic winds

Half-century record of no westerly Atlantic winds

Michael Commins

THE wind has not blown in off the Atlantic over Ireland for the last six weeks. Such a scenario is truly exceptional: Only two periods on record in the last century compare – one in 1947 (The year of the Big Snow) and another in 1963.
Martin Sweeney from Straide, who has maintained his own private climate station where he has faithfully recorded weather conditions for 50 years since 1963, says this has been the first time in half a century since the winds have come from the east for such a sustained period of time.
“The causes for the current situation relate to the high pressure up north around Scandinavia and Russia and Siberia and low pressure in the Azores and the Mediterranean region. This started in the middle of February and resulted in very severe weather across the UK. We did not fare nearly as bad. Germany has just recorded its coldest March in living memory.
“Normally the pressure is high in Azores region and low up towards Iceland and the northern regions. It is this reversal of trends that has contributed to six weeks of these very cold winds sweeping down across parts of northern Europe and across to us here. This is most unusual and the result is that there has been very little growth so far this year.”
Homes in sheltered areas, normally protected from the prevailing south westerly winds, have found themselves in the teeth of the onslaught of the bitter winds for several weeks now. Farm sheds, which often allow for such matters based on the wisdom of the ages, find their normally sheltered side now coping with the severe cold.

TV tribute for Mayo weatherman
On the Met Eireann forecast on RTÉ 1 last Sunday night, Evelyn Cusack paid a special tribute to Martin, whom she said had kept an extraordinary record of weather patterns in Mayo since his first entry in his books on March 1, 1963, half a century ago.
Martin, a retired postman, is taking it all in his stride. “It long ago became a way of life for me. It has been an interest and a passion all those years. I find it can be fascinating checking facts from over the years.
“This is the longest spell of wind from the east since I began my records. We have had no rainfall since the middle of February, except on March 21 when around half an inch fell.
“That was the day they had the blizzard conditions in Antrim and Down. The temperature was around 20 degrees this time last year. It was only 6 degrees on Sunday and felt much colder because of the chill factor. It is a very interesting hobby to have and I love it.”