Cold snap

 

After three days of gale and torrential rain and sleet, we woke up this morning to a snow-capped Croagh Patrick. Some lovely sunshine and cool temps, but perhaps an end to the rain. The daffodils took a beating but fortunately the buds have remained dormant on the vines. 

Thunder and lightning

 

We drove down to Galway in mixed wintry weather. Sleet and hail, black skies, torrential rain showers. We were staying overnight because I had carpal tunnel surgery scheduled for the morning. It's a good thing we did, because several of the scheduled surgery patients didn't make it on time. Since I was there and ready early, I was slotted in at 9:30. Prep at 9:00. 

In the surgical unit, I learned from the nurses that the overnight storms were vicious —howling winds, thunder that rolled on forever, and cracks of lightning—fairly rare here. I slept through it all. You can see that it was concentrated over Connemara. Although Mayo had a fair bit of wind, Galway got the brunt of the rain. Thunder and lightning, very, very frightening, they said. 

Hopefully, the surgery was successful, but there's no working in the vineyard or the garden for several weeks.  

Blustery days in Mayo

 

We've had a blustery two days in  Mayo. Wet a good deal of the time, and now about to get quite cold this afternoon. St Patrick's weekend may be a challenge. It has been rather dark and dreary and not at all conducive to gardening. 

I have carpal tunnel surgery tomorrow, so I will be out of commission for a couple of weeks. A good excuse to sit around reading books. 

Polytunnel News

 

It was a beautiful morning yesterday, and I spent it working in the polytunnel. So much going on. The apple, peach and nectarine trees are leafing brightly. An aeonium is blooming profusely. Seeds are sprouting throughout. And several of the vines have bud break. How exciting!

It's so nice to have our own decomposed donkey manure and a fabulous bin of garden waste compost. It feels rich. I finally planted my little dahlia bed. Trying to emulate the Victorians. Grapes for every purpose and flowers for the eyes. 

Stunning Aeonium flower

Ross House white dessert grape, possibly Sweetwater

Albarino

Black Hamburg

New dahlia planter

Luscious donkey poo

Fab compost 

February for us in the west was sort of normal

 

Looks like February, which felt wet, was actually quite average for recent years, at least for us. Once again, the East got the brunt of the rain. They are absolutely sodden. What is sort of normal these days?

Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 04-mar-2026

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2026	162.7	133.9	17.8										314.4
2025	105.0	112.4	59.3	102.8	88.2	153.8	130.0	148.2	214.9	186.4	207.8	164.2	1673.0
2024	125.7	197.5	152.5	119.4	48.8	80.7	80.8	257.5	44.1	150.7	143.3	173.7	1574.7
2023	183.2	91.6	188.4	121.1	48.5	77.9	206.8	139.8	142.4	144.7	209.6	293.8	1847.8
LTA	166.4	146.6	129.0	98.0	99.2	93.5	111.6	133.0	131.8	153.9	180.9	190.7	1634.6

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2026	5.7	7.1	7.7										6.4
2025	6.0	7.1	8.9	11.6	14.0	14.9	16.5	16.7	13.3	11.7	8.8	7.6	11.5
2024	6.1	7.9	7.9	9.9	13.1	12.9	14.9	14.9	13.6	11.8	9.2	8.2	10.9
2023	6.6	8.0	7.6	9.9	13.3	17.4	14.9	15.8	15.2	11.9	8.7	7.9	11.4
LTA	6.3	6.4	7.5	9.5	12.0	14.2	15.5	15.5	13.8	11.1	8.5	6.7	10.6

Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2026	4.8	6.4	n/a										5.6
2025	5.1	6.0	8.1	10.9	15.4	16.3	17.8	17.5	13.9	12.1	8.9	6.9	11.6
2024	4.2	6.5	6.5	9.5	13.6	14.4	15.8	15.4	13.7	11.2	8.9	7.2	10.6
2023	5.2	6.8	6.6	9.1	13.7	18.6	16.3	16.3	14.7	11.1	7.6	6.7	11.1
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm2 for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2026	6741	9232	2427										18400
2025	7308	11955	25430	44615	64505	45465	47402	38468	29164	11727	7736	4441	338216
2024	7248	12401	23032	39685	47333	50366	49632	38203	31451	16628	6586	4121	326686
2023	6245	10639	21429	37277	55732	58473	41797	36857	29338	16225	8326	4411	326749
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2026	11.3	17.5	3.7										32.5
2025	12.9	22.0	39.5	70.1	100.3	76.4	80.3	68.6	45.4	28.0	13.9	15.1	572.5
2024	15.4	18.2	36.0	56.9	74.7	76.7	80.9	60.8	49.0	27.6	14.2	15.6	526.0
2023	14.3	20.9	33.0	56.4	83.3	100.6	70.1	64.4	50.1	26.1	14.2	14.7	548.1
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2026	15.1	24.2	5.1										44.4
2025	17.1	30.5	55.3	97.0	139.0	107.8	110.6	94.7	64.1	37.1	18.2	18.6	790.0
2024	20.2	25.4	51.9	83.7	104.9	109.8	112.6	88.3	67.8	37.5	18.4	20.0	740.5
2023	18.8	28.2	47.6	81.6	118.2	137.1	99.5	89.1	67.8	35.5	18.4	19.0	760.8
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Degree Days Below 15.5 Degree Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2026	305	234	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2025	294	235	205	132	82	49	23	21	76	121	201	246	1685
2024	293	221	234	169	91	89	45	41	77	117	191	228	1796
2023	275	210	246	171	85	18	39	26	53	118	203	237	1681

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Notes on the Data

Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
The ‘LTA’ (referred to within a table) is average for the climatological long-term-average (LTA) reference period 1991-2020.
Data updated daily at Mid-day.
To view the Weather Events for Public Works Contracts data, select a station first, then click the link just below the map.

The summary for the winter is that we had a mild December and February, cool January. It was wet in the Midlands, South and East. The NW hardly got a mention. New pattern, I hope.