Birthday update

Hare today!

I was hoping the shed would be completed today, but that was not to be. The people doors were delivered as was the timber for the fence. But they couldn't install the doors and they still need to roll the driveway so we have to wait. No birthday present of job done. 

Alex has started moving pallets into the shed so we can start storing stuff in there, chiefly books and furniture and stuff that has to go to Germany. All the beekeeping materials will have to go in there as well, as will the RTV and mower and half the gardening stuff. 

I did have a few surprises so far, today. Alex created a gorgeous chair which he presented at breakfast. And I had an unexpected visitor as well. The weather was lovely and I wrote a poem commemorating my 69th. Overall not a bad day and more to come. 

Almost there

The massive doors were installed in the 'shed' today. Tested and ready to go. I missed seeing them down but Alex says they are a good match for the shed. 

Cahill smoothed the land and pounded in the fence posts for the new split rail fence along the perimeter. He also installed a drain diagonally across the field. He needs to distribute the remaining stone on the driveway.

Cahill and Charles will be installing the people doors tomorrow. That's the last remaining task and then the shed is complete. We can start moving things in. 

I even managed to rearrange the polytunnel today, moving the furniture around and opening up some space since the RTV and mower will be living in the shed from now on as soon as it returns from servicing. It's finally coming together. 

Surface temperature predictions

NOAA has issued a short video showing how global temperatures and SSTs are affected in El Niño years. 

At the ENSO Blog, their guest blogger explains how scientists predict the annual global temperature ranking ahead of time and also explores the question, "Will El Niño push the planet to a new record-high temperature in 2023? 

The answer is, it depends. 

Well, at least the grapes in the polytunnel are ripening. 

A New Climate Resource for Ireland

Met Éireann released the first climate projections of the TRANSLATE initiative at the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference 2023 (ECCA), held in Dublin last week.

The TRANSLATE dataset confirms that Ireland is likely to experience a decrease in the frequency of cold winter nights and up to a 10-fold increase in the frequency of warm (> 15°C) summer nights, alongside an increasing number of heatwaves, by the end of the century. In terms of precipitation, summers are projected to be drier and winters to be wetter, with precipitation increasing annually overall. Temperatures are projected to increase across all greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

Current estimates from the IPCC AR6 report, place the past decade as 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, with the next 20 years expected to reach or exceed the 2°C threshold. 

A tool to predict how your county will be affected was developed. It looks like Mayo will be relatively fortunate. 

Atlantic Tropical Storms

For the first time on record, we've had two tropical storms form east of the Lesser Antilles in June: Bret and Cindy. 

The water on Achill Island is the warmest it's been over a ten-year average. The water in Cork is almost equal to the air temperature. And the water over the North Atlantic just keeps heating up. The sea surface temperature anomalies off the NW coast of Ireland and NE coast of GB are Scary! 

Meanwhile, it's still warm here and raining steadily at the moment. I hope it stops for the St John's night pig roast at the Quinns. 

 

today

yesterday

minimum

maximum

weather

Achill Island

17.1°C

17°C

10.5°C

16°C

19°C 

Aran Islands

17.6°C

17.7°C

11.2°C

17.3°C

18°C 

	Water	Weather		Wave
Cork	18.5°C	19°C		1.69 m
Ardmore	18.3°C	19°C		1.48 m
Rossbeigh Strand	18.2°C	20°C		0.48 m
Garryvoe	18.2°C	19°C		1.43 m
Inch Beach	18.2°C	20°C		0.48 m

💖

Solaris starting to flower

 

Solaris flowering

Solaris is just beginning to flower while the Rondo is well underway with loads of pollinators in the vineyard. There are a few clusters on the Chardonnay but still tightly closed. No indication of any clusters on the Pinot Noir and forget about the Albarino. 

Chardonnay cluster

Rondo exploded

We had torrential rain last night like the spigot was turned on full blast instantaneously. We've had 30 mm of rain in June now, but more is needed. Today is the summer solstice and we will have 17 hours of daylight. This year, the exact time of the cross-quarter moment between Bealtaine (early Summer) and Lughnasadh (early Autumn) was Wednesday, June 21st at 3.58pm (Irish time).

Daylight

04:56 – 21:56

17 hours

Sun Distance: 152.028 million km

Sunrise Today: 04:56↑ 47° Northeast

Sunset Today: 21:56↑ 313° Northwest

Meanwhile, the last phase of construction of our shed is underway. Cahill Keane has delivered the digger, the stone for the drain, and the smaller stone to finish off the driving area. They will paint the floor on Friday, and Charles delivered the paint today - grey! I don't know how long it will take Cahill to backfill the drain and level out the topsoil, but it is definitely nearing completion.

I'm a bit concerned about the cost. We've paid for the structure but not for the build yet. Chi-ching. Everything costs more than you expect these days. 

Let the winemaking begin.