Having spent many "wet holidays" in Ireland, the article below made me smile. It was a real pleasure to research some travel links and the "Brief History of Ireland" (scroll to end of page).
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How to Beat the Weather when Traveling in Ireland
I think it is fair to say that Irish weather is pretty notorious. It is known for being both weepingly wet and laughingly unpredictable. A devilish combination if ever there was one. But does it deserve this infamous reputation? Probably not, but the Irish do such a good job complaining about it, that everyone is convinced it does. Including, the Irish themselves.
Average annual rainfall in Ireland runs to 30 inches.
Quite a lot you may think.
But Seattle, Washington gets 36in, New York, 45in (ok, 28in of that is snow) and Miami gets a whopping 60in of rainfall! No snow there.
So Ireland is not that wet after all. In fact, the average Earthly rainfall is 34in, so we are begrudgingly below average. So why does everyone think Ireland is so wet when it is in fact below average?
The reason is that most *normal* climates get all or most of their rain out the way in one season, leaving the remainder of the year mostly dry. Not in Ireland. We like to spread it throughout the whole year. We have the warm Atlantic Gulf Stream to thank for that. It keeps our winters mild, our summers cool and makes both equally likely to produce a shower of rain at any time.
Which brings me to the unpredictable nature of Irish weather. OK, here I must raise my hands in surrender, or at least Irish Weather would if it had a conscience. Everything you have heard is true, no point denying it. Beautiful and sunny in the morning, grey and torrential by the afternoon. It would be great if you could set your watch by it, but you most certainly can not.
The reverse could just as easily be the case. But, most likely the reverse in various guises numerous times over before noon will be true. Hence, the favorite phrase of those brave men and women at the Irish Meteorological Office when forecasting the weather: sunny spells and scattered showers.
Spring and autumn are particularly schizophrenic, when hail and thunder may be experienced in the same day as the aforementioned sunny spells. Many people ask us: what is the weather like in Ireland in May, or September? The short, honest answer is we have not got a clue. Every year is different. Sure, we have seasons, but our seasons are generalizations at best. They are a reasonable indication of temperature and whether schools will be open, but little more. I cannot speak for my colleagues, but I usually base my answer to the above question on my memory of that month's weather the previous year, while couching my response in language supplied by our weather lawyer.
Take this summer so far.
May this year was depressingly wet. It rained almost every day. By the end of the month the entire population of Ireland was on the brink of psychological breakdown. Thankfully, the first two weeks of June were fantastic, but the following two were nondescript; overcast, but dry for the most part. July was been up and down, days of rain followed by days of intense heat and sunshine. August started well, but took a turn for the worse this week. What will it be like next week? No one knows. So what is a sane person to do? The Irish answer is to talk about it. I am not sure if we actually love talking about the weather, but it certainly makes for an easy conversation opener. Friends who have known each other 50 years will comment on the day's weather before moving to more important topics. But it works just as well for strangers on a train. It is the common burden or joy we all share, depending on the day. You will never offend anyone by commenting on the weather since no one cam claim credit and no one can be blamed.
But what can you do as a visitor to Ireland to prepare for Irish weather?
Well, I was sitting under the awning outside a coffee shop one afternoon last week. It had started raining an hour previously. Prior to that it had been sunny and warm for almost four days. It had seemed like sunshine was our right. I noticed, as I sipped my latte, that all the locals were dashing about in tee-shirts, sun dresses and sleeveless blouses getting rather drenched. On the other hand, every tourist I saw was strolling around sporting rainproof jackets, quite unperturbed by the sudden change in the weather.
The moral of this story? The answer to this question?
Forget the Irish, be like the tourists. Be prepared. Top Tips for beating Irish Weather:
1. Bring a rainproof jacket and shoes (and trousers if you intend golfing, hiking or cycling)
2. Bring layers of clothes that you can put on or take off as the weather dictates.
3. Watch the weather forecast so you know what to expect the next day. It is on after every news bulletin on tv and is often the funniest thing you will see all day. The forecasts are normally very accurate. Our weathermen and women are probably the best in the world.
4. If in doubt, ask a farmer
5. Do not let bad weather get you down. Get out there and do exactly what you planned to do. Irish weather changes fast. Thankfully, half the time it changes for the better.
6. Never, ever complain about the heat, dryness, humidity or sunshine.
Article Republished From: Liberated Press Releases and Other FREE Information a web site that DOESN'T use Google Adspam (Adsense text links) in or around articles.
Author Resource:- © 2007 Ivan Lynch Ivan Lynch is co-founder of Authentic Ireland Travel, an Irish based company specializing in vacations to Ireland. Find out how practical advice and expert local knowledge can make your Ireland vacation unforgettable at: http://www.authenticireland.com/
A Brief History of Ireland
Earliest Inhabitants
During the last Ice Age, when most of the country was covered by an icecap, low sea levels meant that Ireland was attached to Britain, and Britain to the European continent. As the climate warmed (from about 13,000 BC), and the ice gradually retreated,...read more
The Celts
The Celts were an Indo-European group called Keltoi by the Greeks and Galli by the Romans, who spread south from central Europe into Italy and Spain and west through France and Britain. By 500 BC, Celtic language and culture were dominant in...read more >>
The Coming of Christianity
The christianization of Ireland began as early as the fourth century AD, well before the arrival of St Patrick (whose existence is now the subject of some controversy). Vestiges did survive of the previous religion of the Celts, but after the...read more >>
Invasion: Vikings and Normans
From 795, Ireland was increasingly plagued by destructive Viking raids , in which many of the great monasteries were plundered and burned (though many more were destroyed as a result of indigenous intertribal warfare in the eighth and ninth...read more >>
The Tudors and the Stuarts
The continued isolation of Irish politics from English and Continental influence during the fifteenth century, and England's preoccupation with the Wars of the Roses, helped Ireland's most powerful Anglo-Norman family - the FitzGeralds of...read more >>
The Penal Laws to the Act of Union
In 1641, 59 percent of the land in Ireland was owned by Catholics. In 1688, the figure was 22 percent, and by 1703 it was fourteen percent. The Protestant population, about one-tenth of the total, lived in fear of an uprising by the vast majority of...read more >>
Daniel O'Connell
The quest for Catholic emancipation by peaceful constitutional means was the life's work of Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847), the lawyer who became known as "The Liberator" and whom Gladstone called "the greatest popular leader the...read more >>
The Famine
The failure of the Irish potato crop from 1845 to 1849 plunged the island into appalling famine . Elsewhere in Europe, the blight was a resolvable problem but Irish subsistence farmers were utterly dependent on the crop. No disease affected...read more >>
Parnell and the Home Rule
The second half of the nineteenth century was characterized by a complex interplay of political and economic factors which contributed towards the exacerbation of religious differences. The most important of these was the struggle for land and for the...read more >>
Rebellion and Civil War
The British parliament eventually passed the Home Rule Bill of 1912, and for a while the conditions appeared to exist for Ireland to erupt into civil war. Before this could happen, however, the outbreak of World War I dramatically altered the...read more >>
The Irish Free State
With the death of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith during the civil war, the leadership of the Irish Free State fell to William T. Cosgrave, and finally in the summer of 1923 the new government began to reconstruct Ireland as an independent nation. A...read more >>
The Republic
It took the Republic (which finally came into being in 1949) twenty years to recover from the economic stagnation brought on by the war. Vast numbers of people, disproportionately drawn from among the young and talented, moved across to fill Britain's...read more >>
Northern Ireland from 1921
On June 22, 1921, the new political entity of Northern Ireland came into existence with the opening of the Northern Irish Parliament in Belfast's City Hall. In order to understand the present situation in the North it is necessary to grasp the...read more >>
