A chronicle of our preposterous journey to grow wine grapes and make wine in the west of Ireland, where the mountains come down to the sea along the Wild Atlantic Way.
The last few days have been quite mild. A couple of days of bright sunshine, a day of fog, a day of mist and high around 12-14C. The donkeys have been very happy although the bottom of the field is quite muddy. We'll take it.
Alex is having cataract surgery on Friday, and he will be out of commission for a couple of weeks. So we started pruning the orchard today. We tackled the two big apple trees and the pear and made good inroads. It was a daunting task, but the new mini chain saw made all the difference.
If Alex's post-op recovery goes well, we might tackle the vineyard in week two. He can't do any heavy lifting, but he should be able to prune vines, which is very light work in comparison.
Today is supposed to be the last day of the arctic blast we've been experiencing. It's been bitterly cold, below zero the last few days. I've had the heater going in the polytunnel nonstop all week. The donkeys have been cozy enough on their hay bed but their water keeps freezing. I've been breaking it up and removing chunks of ice every morning. Yesterday, the tarmac surface was solid black ice. This morning started with snow sprinkles. We're supposed to get rain but as the temperature is hovering consistently at 2C, it could just continue to snow. It's also supposed to be quite windy. I felt the breeze picking up after I fed the donkeys this morning but the gale has not yet materialised.
Although I was frozen cold this week, being outdoors was quite pleasant. No precipitation. Blue skies. No wind. Actually quite lovely. I watched as the sea froze before my eyes at Ross house the day before yesterday. Croagh Patrick and Nephin were quite white and indistinguishable from the clouds.
And yet, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change report issued for 2024 yesterday showed that 2024 was once again a record-breaking year in global warmth and we've passed the 1.5C mark above the pre-industrial levels. Meanwhile, the US East coast is having a polar vortex event. They've even started naming their winter storms in America. This one is Blair. All while LA burns. They say 10,000 homes have been destroyed in LA and the fires are not contained. These whiplash events are becoming increasingly more common as the climate warms.
This morning, as we travelled inland to Galway, we encountered areas of snow and ice. As we turned back toward the sea, the snow and ice disappeared again, which indicates that the record ocean temperatures are actually protecting us from the extreme cold. Met Éireann's December report states it was mild, dull and relatively dry. I would have classed it as miserable.
Much of the country's southern half is covered in snow, with some parts in up to a foot. There's no way to deal with that here. I had an MRI recall to attend and that was important to travel for. On the way back home encountered a few sprinkles and the elevated areas of Croagh Patrick and Nephin were white.
Tonight we are expecting an Arctic blast. Met Éireann has issued an orange warning for extreme cold down to -8C in places for the next few days. We don't expect it to break until Friday but I really don't think it will affect us as much as most of the rest of the country.
Warnings & Advisories - Today Tuesday 07 January 2025
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