April showers?

Looking at the Met Eireann stats for April, the monthly total rainfall was less than half of the mean but about twice what we had last year, the temperature was 3 degrees lower than the mean, and the soil temperature was average. How that is explained, I do not know. How this correlates with the early bud burst compared to last year, I do not know either. 

All means are for the period 1981-2010.

Still raining

We had a little bit of sunshine yesterday, interspersed with showers, in the aftermath of Storm Ellen. One of those 'Oh, it's sunny let's go out - No, it's raining better go in.' days. Seemingly continuing today. 

We got off okay. Just one gust around 60 knots in the middle of the night, but mostly winds in the range of 40 knots, and little damage. Storm Ellen brought us much rain -- buckets full all around the house. Newport had 28.8 mm rain on the 20th, 4 mm on the 21st, and 5.5 on the 22nd. I haven't gotten into the vineyard to see the grapes, but the vines looked fine from the orchard, as far as I got before the rain yesterday. And it's not supposed to let up much. 

There are two Tropical Storms in the Atlantic heading for the Gulf of Mexico. If they become hurricanes, it will be the first time two hurricanes enter the Gulf at the same time ever. Texas is bracing to take the brunt. Fortunately, those storms are not forecast to come our way. Fingers crossed. 

CUMULATIVE RAINFALL GRAPHS

Once again, we dance and pray for rain

Another beautiful morning in Mayo. 

MONTHLY VALUES FOR NEWPORT UP TO 12-MAY-2020

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2020	139.5	342.8	178.2	25.5	12.2								698.2
2019	146.8	115.0	228.5	100.7	112.5	76.6	82.7	228.9	175.5	160.7	148.1	220.6	1796.6
2018	274.6	155.6	86.2	94.3	70.4	65.9	58.6	179.1	148.3	140.9	172.6	201.0	1647.5
2017	94.3	151.0	216.2	31.1	64.2	108.3	164.0	197.6	153.3	190.1	203.0	179.7	1752.8
mean	166.7	126.5	141.2	96.8	94.7	89.7	100.9	132.5	131.5	176.0	170.4	180.2	1607.1

We are watering our gardens daily now. No rain since the last report of rain on this blog. It continues sunny but this week is cold. Last week was warm. Next week to be warm. Truly bizarre. After the soggiest February when I thought all the plants would drown, we had the driest April, and May continues the trend. Oh, and there's tropical depression forming off the Bahamas. 

UK getting warmer and wetter

This chart presents a comparison of annual averages for key meteorological
 indicators in the United Kingdom from 1961 to 2017. 

Statista has created an effective infographic to illustrate the findings of a new report showing what effect climate change has already exerted on UK weather. They wrote,

Pergola in the making

The telephone pole support posts for the overhead pergolas for the first ten vines are in. Alex dug the holes, dragged the poles up the hill with a borrowed quad, and, with the help of a friend, righted the posts in the holes and cemented them in. They will be allowed to set for several days before the overhead poles are secured for the vines to be trained along them. This year, it will begin to look like a vineyard.