Is this the driest April, start of May that you can remember?

pedigree 6

There must be a few posters here with a good memory of other springs gone by.
So I was wondering did ye ever experience an Summer April like this just gone past.
I'm here a few years and I can't seem to recall one like it.

Met Eireann have recorded the driest April since the recording station opened in Mullingar in 1950.



http://met.ie/climate/monthly-weather-reports.asp

freedominacup

pedigree 6 wrote: »

There must be a few posters here with a good memory of other springs gone by.
So I was wondering did ye ever experience an Summer April like this just gone past.
I'm here a few years and I can't seem to recall one like it.

Met Eireann have recorded the driest April since the recording station opened in Mullingar in 1950.



http://met.ie/climate/monthly-weather-reports.asp

We had a farm walk here in 1997 in relation to early silage. Sometime around the 10th of May. A particularly fair skinned attendee got badly sunburned through his t-shirt on the day. Absolute scorcher of a day. Silage was cut here in the day of the walk. Got a drop of rain a couple of days later to spread fert for second cut. It stopped raining around the fifth of Feb 1998. There were loads of fodder leaving this area by Christmas for the west with no one other than the hauliers getting paid. We got 1.5 tonnes of the worst wheat ever harvested off 40 acres of rented ground. Anyone who misses the opportunities to save forage now could well rue the day.

Dwag

freedominacup wrote: »

We had a farm walk here in 1997 in relation to early silage. Sometime around the 10th of May. A particularly fair skinned attendee got badly sunburned through his t-shirt on the day. Absolute scorcher of a day. Silage was cut here in the day of the walk. Got a drop of rain a couple of days later to spread fert for second cut. It stopped raining around the fifth of Feb 1998. There were loads of fodder leaving this area by Christmas for the west with no one other than the hauliers getting paid. We got 1.5 tonnes of the worst wheat ever harvested off 40 acres of rented ground. Anyone who misses the opportunities to save forage now could well rue the day.

Iirc '76 was like this...sizzler of a summer followed.
Drought.

_Brian

1995 was a wonderful long hot summer, not sure if it started this early though.
In fairness was last April into May not nearly as dry.

Dwag

_Brian wrote: »

1995 was a wonderful long hot summer, not sure if it started this early though.
In fairness was last April into May not nearly as dry.

'95 was a nice dry year, nothing special really.
'89 was much drier. Great summer.

_Brian

Dwag wrote: »

'95 was a nice dry year, nothing special really.
'89 was much drier. Great summer.

Nothing special !!
I got married that summer 🙂

Dwag

_Brian wrote: »

Nothing special !!
I got married that summer 🙂

You wore those luvved up rose tinted shades all summer long...:)

foxy farmer

Was 2004 a dry spring? I had to sink a well in april/may that year as shallow well in the yard dried. Would never dry normally till September.

Genghis Cant

_Brian wrote: »

1995 was a wonderful long hot summer, not sure if it started this early though.
In fairness was last April into May not nearly as dry.

I have in in my head that there was a huge flood in April 95. I remember thinking land was that wet it'd never dry out.

Birdnuts

Genghis Cant wrote: »

I have in in my head that there was a huge flood in April 95. I remember thinking land was that wet it'd never dry out.

I remember April 98' being very bad with floods, followed by a horrid summer:(
- since then though its been generally a dry month and often better than May

Genghis Cant

Birdnuts wrote: »

I remember April 98' being very bad with floods, followed by a horrid summer:(

Nah..... It was a great summer...... For Offaly Hurling :-)

Sam Kade

April 1984 was a lot warmer and drier than this year, I remember P and T workers as they were called back then with their shirts off and sun burned. 1994 was a dry April as well. Met Eireann must have crap records if they think this is the driest April since 1950.

Jack the Stripper

foxy farmer wrote: »

Was 2004 a dry spring? I had to sink a well in april/may that year as shallow well in the yard dried. Would never dry normally till September.

Maybe you experienced global warming.

patsy_mccabe

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Nah..... It was a great summer...... For Offaly Hurling :-)

Ya, all the Offaly people got sunburnt that year







........from lying out in the middle of Croke Park.

Tigerandahalf

It might have been dry but it has been bloody cold. No warmth there at all until this week.

You can see it in the fields. There isn't a bit of grass.

We have had very little rain for the last 6 months or so. I hope it stays like it for another 6.

KatyMac

1995 was a seriously dry year in England. I was over for a holiday with my Dad and we stayed near an experimental farm. (cousin worked there) They were feeding square straw bales with molasses trying to keep the animals' bellys full. Some animals were lost because they were found some poisonous plant that they wouldn't normally eat and ate them anyway because they were still green. As far as I can remember we had a really good summer as well which was why we were able to take a holiday in the first place - turf & hay were saved early!

I said

Irish summer s are ****e surely ye can remember the good ones 76 and 95 the rest were dog****e

Sam Kade

I said wrote: »

Irish summer s are ****e surely ye can remember the good ones 76 and 95 the rest were dog****e

You can remember 76 and 95 but you can't remember 1984 which was dry from April to September. 89 was another very dry summer.

I said

Sam Kade wrote: »

You can remember 76 and 95 but you can't remember 1984 which was dry from April to September. 89 was another very dry summer.

Still **** 4 in 40

Hard Knocks

I said wrote: »

Sam Kade wrote: »

You can remember 76 and 95 but you can't remember 1984 which was dry from April to September. 89 was another very dry summer.

Still **** 4 in 40

Depends on which was you look at the glass.
When I was younger we would have made hay most years, where the bales could of sat out for a good while (or seamed to me) before collecting, in recent years if you got a chance to win a bit, you'd try to collect urgently.
Is this the effect of global warming?

_Brian

I said wrote: »

Irish summer s are ****e surely ye can remember the good ones 76 and 95 the rest were dog****e

From my memory 76,77,78 were all fairly good.

charolais0153

IMO the last 3 summers summer of fourteen onwards have been good in that you aren't making bales of water

I said

All ****e any day that gets over 18 is celebrated now

mf240

I remember last summer.

It was on a Tuesday

whelan2

mf240 wrote: »

I remember last summer.

It was on a Tuesday

I cant remember what the weather was like last week never mind 20 years ago :cool:

patsy_mccabe

Jeez, 2012 still gives me the shivers.:(

Just checked the historical data there on Met Eireann for Shannon Airport, August 1995 was the hottest on record (since 1945).
Mean temp was 19.3C.

Wettest Month was Nov 2009.

Muckit

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

.

Wettest Month was Nov 2009.

Rihanna had that song 'umbrella ella ella' out and l remember thinking how apt

GiantPencil

Muckit wrote: »

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

.

Wettest Month was Nov 2009.

Rihanna had that song 'umbrella ella ella' out and l remember thinking how apt

That was a 2007 song ;) I do remember November 2009 though, was in UL at the time and remember all the flooding on campus near the Shannon. Didn't Cork get bad flooding then as well? Think I remember UCC being evacuated

Sam Kade

GiantPencil wrote: »

That was a 2007 song?;)?I do remember November 2009 though, was in UL at the time and remember all the flooding on campus near the Shannon. Didn't Cork get bad flooding then as well? Think I remember UCC being evacuated

2009 was bad alright, I know a man that made 3 attempts to cut a field of silage and had to give up every time.

tanko

Sam Kade wrote: »

2009 was bad alright, I know a man that made 3 attempts to cut a field of silage and had to give up every time.

Ah sure 85 and 86 were worse.

arctictree

Spring 2013 was very dry. We reseeded half the farm and got barely a drop of rain.

kerry cow

95 was a super year .
Just brings back memories of the turf and hay which we do no more .It must have been all the rain since 95 that has eventually grinder us down to the piont of giving it up because it was too much hassle .
How easy it is to work without having to judge the weather .Other countries don't suffer the disease ??

_Brian

Neighbor has a dry shale hill field facing into us here.
He grazed it out to the but there with sucklers took them off it on Monday and between the sun and the harsh wind it's burned brown.
Have seen it burn in July/August in years like 95 before but never in May.

It's great to see stock lying back so much relaxing in the sun, their growing just sitting there !!

Mooooo

09 &12 were the worst in my short memory, 12 was fine as far as the first week of May I think but a pure washout straight into winter with silage stocks being depleted for the spring of 13, my worst time farming anyway, was locked up from October 12 to Oct 13 as well

mf240

In 2012 a neighbour had a duck drowned in a high moor

Base price

I remember showing cattle at the Spring Show 1989 (RDS) first week of May and the cattle were overheating tied in the cattle lines. People were taping newspaper to the windows to keep the sun from shining into the sheds. At night we used to put the animals into the stables but didn't that year as there was no air circulating in them. Some people cooled their animals by throwing buckets of water on them.

Wildsurfer

kerry cow wrote: »

95 was a super year .
Just brings back memories of the turf and hay which we do no more .It must have been all the rain since 95 that has eventually grinder us down to the piont of giving it up because it was too much hassle .
How easy it is to work without having to judge the weather .Other countries don't suffer the disease ??

We however don't get Tornados, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Severe droughts. Look on the positives lad. It ain't a bad little country at all.

Sam Kade

tanko wrote: »

Ah sure 85 and 86 were worse.

2012 was the was the wettest summer I remember and I can go back to the 70's.

Sam Kade

mf240 wrote: »

In 2012 a neighbour had a duck drowned in a high moor

The duck that couldn't swim serves her right.

kk.man

Remember one of the early 80s it never rained here from April to September. I saw the bottom of a well which i believe was never seen before and certainly not after. Uncle and i used to emptied it in the morning and it be kinda full again for evening. Uncle was milking cows at the time it was scary cause if well didn't fill you be in trouble. I remember the 1st day of rain and noone went for shelter not even humans!

Sam Kade

kk.man wrote: »

Remember one of the early 80s it never rained here from April to September. I saw the bottom of a well which i believe was never seen before and certainly not after. Uncle and i used to emptied it in the morning and it be kinda full again for evening. Uncle was milking cows at the time it was scary cause if well didn't fill you be in trouble. I remember the 1st day of rain and noone went for shelter no even humans!

That was 1984, they were spreading water with slurry tankers around here to wash in fertiliser, you may as well be pissing on it for all the good it did.

kollegeknight

Sam Kade wrote: »

2012 was the was the wettest summer I remember and I can go back to the 70's.

If you can go back to the 70's- buy shares in apple and Microsoft.

kollegeknight

We used to save turf and sell it. About 30 trailers or there Abouts. I don't remember in '95, we only had to turn the turf and it was saved. No reeking, loaded straight from the footings and sold.

We danced a jig when the bog was empty in July- planning how we would put down our time. Beach on the Sunday for a few hours, landed home and dad had the hoppers waiting to go cutting again on Monday. We cried until September.

That being said it paid for all the matches Clare was in to will the All Ireland hurling. Although I didn't get to go to the final that year as there was a ticket shortage.

hill_walker

whoever said spring 2013 was very dry must be talking about another country

its more or less viewed as having been the worst spring ever , lorry loads of feed were brought in from as far away as france

great summer afterwards however

patsy_mccabe

kollegeknight wrote: »

.... That being said it paid for all the matches Clare was in to will the All Ireland hurling. Although I didn't get to go to the final that year as there was a ticket shortage.

Only thinking that this morning. If '95 hadn't been so fine, would Clare have won the All Ireland? All the lads were young and fast. Wet weather might not have suited them.

kollegeknight

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Only thinking that this morning. If '95 hadn't been so fine, would Clare have won the All Ireland? All the lads were young and fast. Wet weather might not have suited them.

Shur we had enough bad luck prior. Something had to go right for us.

pedigree 6

And another Clare man is going to win the all Ireland this year.
He won't be playing on a team though....
:D

I said

pedigree 6 wrote: »

And another Clare man is going to win the all Ireland this year.
He won't be playing on a team though....
:D

He won't be on the sideline either 😂😂😂

pedigree 6

I said wrote: »

He won't be on the sideline either 😂😂😂

patsy_mccabe

Dream on. Cody must be shaking in his boots.

Sam Kade

kollegeknight wrote: »

If you can go back to the 70's- buy shares in apple and Microsoft.

Good one