We've been trying to erect a shelter for the donkeys for more than a month. The digger finally came on Saturday to dig the holes for the corner posts. Dmytro has been helping Alex, and we've temporarily housed the donkeys in the little hay shed, but they'll like the bigger space better. We've been letting them out into the field next to the vineyard during the day, but they really like coming in for the night.
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Vineyards and communities were underwater from Washington State to Northern California again last week leading up to Thanksgiving due to another atmospheric river, the first of the season. Literally, a river of moisture in the atmosphere, accompanied by a bomb cyclone has inundated vineyards and left more than 100,000 homes without power. They say the vines are resilient enough to recover, but not if it keeps happening. They are calling it a once in a thousand years event. CBS News ran a major report.
The term “atmospheric river” first appeared in modern scientific literature in the early 1990s. Prior to that, the phenomenon was called a "warm conveyor belt". According to climate scientists, the frequency and intensity of atmospheric rivers are increasing in California, causing an increase in severe rainfall events.
The silver lining in these clouds is that all the rainfall has finally eased the drought, restoring water levels in the reservoirs throughout the region.
Meanwhile, the East Coast is bracing for potentially record-breaking snowfall from the Mid-Atlantic region through New England over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
After Storm Bert, our temperature plummeted again. This morning a thick fog rolled in just at sunrise. I watched it climb from the sea across Croach Patrick and then across the fields, freezing on the grass and limbs. We never used to get fog, and when we did it didn't last. It's different now. We're getting fog more often and it tends to hang around a while.
When I drove into town this morning, the fog was so thick that I could not see to the next bend on our little road. Several cars and a tractor appeared out of nowhere. I managed to pull over into dodgy laybys, but I survived. Alex drove to Kilrush, and he said it was the same all the way down. It cleared for the middle of the day but reappeared as sunset.
The donkeys were disoriented this morning and were looking for ways to escape. They didn't want to leave their shed but I managed to lure them into the field for a few hours. They were very eager to get back into the shelter. It's warmer in there and there's food.
The vineyard is dormant now. Nothing to do at the moment, although the grass had grown and could probably use a cutting. More straw for the donkeys.
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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.
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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.
