Spring 2025 - General Discussion

Thunderstorm with plenty of lightning just east of Bantry

Wherever YR .no has been getting its data from it’s been incredibly pessimistic today - kept forecasting rain and cloud that hasn’t shown up and far lower temps than reality.

I love May, I love this month. It's even irregardless of the weather. It's like nature spreads it's wings, flexes her muscles.

The day are getting so much longer in the mornings and evenings. It's the growth, the month being called after Maia, the Greek Goddess of growth and fertility.

Length of days plateau in June, July begins the decline in day length. June and July will be warmer. (There might be the odd historical May warmer than June).

But May is always growing, in every way, and it brings so much promise of what might be in store in Summer. The brightness of the gardens and wild flowers. It's the direct opposite, in most ways, of November.

May 1992 would probably be my favourite, a very warm month. I was 16 and a few nice sporting memories. That age where you can play a few matches or do a few sports events in the one day and energy's on tap. Knees struggle to last 70 or 90 minutes these days!

It's weird but I just noticed your signature. Earlier I was singing the Simon&Garfunkel song "April Come She Will" to myself and trying to remember what they said about May!

May, she will stay, Resting in my arms again

Brilliant! More cheerful than my signature!

Very hazy today in north Tipp, but oodles of sunshine, so a very nice day.

A nice sky this evening after sunset:

The moon is clearly visible:

I am not surprised there is a hosepipe ban in Meath. Take Dunsany - it received 11mm of rain for all of March (driest on record) and first half of April. The rain that came at Easter was very heavy for a few days which just leads to swollen rivers and fast runoff. You need more sustained rain over longer periods to build up reservoirs. Before April, Dunsany recorded below average rainfall every single month all the way back to May 2024 with some months getting 30mm+ below average (e.g. December 2024 got 48mm, average is 83mm, June 2024 = 35mm, average = 69mm). The most damning statistic of all is that Gonzo's use of the word "deluge" is 35% down on previous years.

Dublin Airport also showed a similar pattern although January 2025 was slightly above average rainfall. It had a very dry May-August last year.

Ireland to be the driest country in Europe (and probably also the sunniest) over the next 8 days. Not often you see that!