Wind, a lot of wind!

It has been blowing all day. Everything is covered in salt. I hope the heavy rain that followed in the evening washed much of it off. The shed doors were bowing in, so Alex braced them with timber. I'll check on the vineyard and donkeys in the morning, but we have one more day of this before it turns frigid again. Subzero temperatures are forecast for tomorrow night. 

Rain, a lot of rain

 

Overnight, Storm Bert dropped a large volume of rain on Ireland. North of us (Donegal) and south of us (Connemara) saw massive flooding. 60,000 dwellings were without power overnight. Somehow, we in the middle were spared the worst. But we did get 37.5mm (1.5in) of rain. The strongest wind recorded was 48 km/hr. It was forecast to be worse. The grounds of Newport NS are flooded as the storm drains are inadequate in the town. At least it is mild. We went from 0C to 14C in one day. 

I'm very glad we managed to get the donkeys to shelter before Bertie arrived. They were nervous at first but seem content now. 

Met Éireann had issued two separate red weather alerts for Cork and Galway, warning of "severe flooding" and potential damage. The warnings were in place until 10 a.m. this morning and have since expired. But travel remains hazardous as trees are down and roads are flooded. A massive landslide on the road to Maam has closed the Leenane Road. Winds were gusting close to 110km/h overnight in Cork. 

The forecaster has since issued four status yellow wind warnings for Cork, Kerry, and nine other counties as Storm Bert continues to ravage the country. The warnings affect Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal.

Nevertheless, our total rainfall for November remains very low at 69.4mm compared with 170.4 LTA. Our temperature remains high despite all those days of 0C last week. 

The stormy weather will continue through Monday. The digger that was supposed to prepare the site for the donkey shed has been delayed several times by the weather. 

Snow, in Irish Sneachta

 

The last time we saw real snow was years ago. Last night, it came down in giant wet flakes that stuck to everything. They weighed down trees and broke limbs off. There were lots of power outages and accidents. We were without power for 12 hours but again managed to keep our fridge going with the BYD Seal's bidirectional charging. We've had power outages twice in one month after not having had one in years, right after I bought a diesel generator. 

The donkeys are fine but we will shelter them in the new shed from the approaching named storm, Bert. The hay shed is completed and they'll be fine in there for a couple of days while we complete the donkey shed. 

It was beautiful out there today when the sun shone. A true winter wonderland. 

Bitter cold

 

The bitter cold continues. Northern counties got snow. We got a dusting. Croagh Patrick has a white cap. The south is preparing for a major snowfall tonight but we are expected to be fine. The cold is to continue through Friday. Saturday and Sunday and into Monday we are expecting a gale with 50 knot gusts but it will warm up a tad. 

Today, I released two robins from the polytunnel. The poor birds had been there since Monday, when Alex left the door open for ventilation. Lucky for them there are plenty of slugs in the soil and they crawl out at night to eat my lettuce. Hopefully, they will have taken care of a few in their two days of captivity. 

Fun fact: Humans invented alcohol long before they invented the wheel. Although alcohol comes in multiple forms, only ethanol can be safely consumed. 

Arctic blast

We went from 8.0-11.8C on Saturday to 1.2-8.0C degrees yesterday. Today, it's been 2C all day. It's frigid and raw, but the sun came out in the afternoon. The Nephin range was topped with snow mid-day but Croagh Patrick has just a dusting. They say it is snowing properly in Laois and in the North. Maybe because it's such a sudden transition, but it feels colder than we've had in years. Big reset for the environment.

The last of the mild weather

 

The Pinot Noir did not mature. As today is the last of the mild weather, the crop is a failure. The roses are still magnificent and grew about 10 feet tall. The cats are being loving and cuddly as we walk the fields inspecting.

The hay shed for the donkeys is almost done. The digger for the donkey shed is coming this week. It's about time. They are not going to like the coming weather. 

Arctic blast on its way

We've had very mild weather through the first two weeks of November, and only 5.6 mm rain. But that's about to change. A low pressure system will be coming through Monday and it will be very wet, pretty windy, and followed by a cold snap for the rest of the week. It's already cold today compared with what it has been. Through the 15th of November, our average temperature has been 11.8C, exactly what it averaged in October. It was a dark couple of weeks and our solar radiation was very low, producing little electricity from the sunlight.  I have not checked the Pinot Noir vines this week. I'll go up tomorrow and see if there's been any progress, but I doubt it. Not enough light to complement the warmth. 

We're in that time of year when we get beautiful sunsets and we're awake to see them at 4:30 pm. Today we also have the Super Beaver Moon causing astronomically high tides. It was too dark to go out and see as the moon had not risen yet. But we'll have the same in the morning. 

It's a good thing that it will get cold this week as the wasps have still been active and attacking the beehives. Lots of other insects milling about so I am hoping to get a bit of a correction there. Met Eireann is predicting snow and sleet in the hills of the North. I wonder if we'll see a white Croagh Patrick this week. I don't think we saw one day of that last year.

The darkness seems more abrupt and more disturbing this year.