Ireland, probably one of the only countries to experience the four seasons in one day, with of course the exception of our sunshine state: Wexford. Monday, March 11 2013 highlighted the ostentatious weather we so often experience. Reporter with Entertainment.ie, David O’Shaughnessy, referred to the day in question as “Groundhog Day of sun and snow all in an hour,” reinforcing Irish citizens’ thoughts by saying “sure where else would you get it?”.
Yes, it was difficult to know what clothes to showcase that day. While we love to throw on the short-shorts when a tiny ray of Irish sun appears, there would have been high potential for contracting frost-bite in doing so. Naturally, a puffy jacket was required to protect the bare legs from the unmerciful weather – snow and sun in the one day. We clearly never listened to environmental protection agencies when they warned us about global warming and drastic climate change. No, no, ladies kept spritzing themselves in Certain, the only 24-hour antiperspirant. While men overdosed on Lynx in the hope of scoring a lady. All the while we were sending our own climate crazy.
We can’t place the blame solely on ourselves however, and reformed Irish girl-band B*Witched think the same. They claim that we can ‘blame it on the weatherman’, so why not? The National Irish Meteorological Service, Éireann Net, derives from the weather signals picked up from fishermen’s nets. So it’s no wonder that damp spells are always a prominent feature of Irish weather forecasts. Although, it must be difficult to draw up a daily Irish weather chart because even specialist meteorologists could not predict the often erratic weather patterns we experience. Either that or the hiring of business graduates for weather departments is not being hidden very well.
One thing we know to expect for sure in an Irish daily weather forecast, apart from lovely descriptive words to deter our focus, is ‘showers’. Be it showers of rain, hail, sleet or snow, we can always expect showers. As a result, it has been advised by the government that tax-payers fork out up to €5.00 to purchase at least one sturdy umbrella per household. This news appears to be the most viable investment that the government has ever asked the public to make, in the history of the state. There has also been talk of water reservoirs, whereby members of the public can purchase a tank to retain and filter rainwater so that they may avoid the upcoming water tax. But this has yet to be confirmed.
Pathetic fallacy doesn’t only ring true in Shakespeare as weather reports continue to show ‘angry’ clouds and ‘upset’ showers. Studies have also revealed that a large percentage of the Irish population and their emotions are affected by the weather. Who’d have guessed that having more rainfall than the Amazon would ever start to bother us?
We can only hope and pray to one day have a weather reporter like the great Ron Burgundy. That way, even though the weather may be torrential, we will still have a smiles on our faces. “You stay classy, San Diego.”
Catríona Hughes
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