The Weather. Please tap to read

Photo of Courtown Harbour in May 2026 by Mick O Callaghan

Weather        An Aimsir

Weather and weather forecasting play an important role in all our lives alerting us to approaching abnormalities in our weather. We see regular destruction, loss of life and huge damage to property caused by excessive rain and wind. This is particularly true in countries like Japan, India, New Zealand and The Philippines where they have weather alerts for tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis on a regular basis.

 Irish people do not experience these weather extremes apart from winter storms and flooding, but we are still obsessed by the weather, checking it on our phones and on meteireann.ie. When I was growing up there were a few major topics of conversation at home every day starting with the weather, the angelus, the rosary’ and the state of Kerry Football. The weather on radio 1 always took top spot.

My father paid great attention to nature during the turf cutting season every year when he needed fine weather for drying the turf. When he opened the back door every morning, he looked up at Sliabh Mish and if it appeared closer than usual the day would be cold and rain was on the way, so it was not good turf weather and his mood changed.

We were kept informed when air pressure dropped. He had a barometer in a shed and this was regularly checked for impending changes in the weather. I still have it and check it for weather changes

We learned about when humidity rises, insects get weighed down by dampness. Then he told us how the swallows dived low to catch these insects. We were told at home and in school that when a swallow flies high, we can expect dry weather but when the swallow flies low rain is on the way.

We lived on the seashore outside Tralee, and we noted the behaviour of seagulls moving inland when the wind was rising out over the sea. We often had gulls at the back door looking for food scraps.

Weather is also a great social topic and a regular conversation opener. When I am walking down the streets in Gorey I hear some lovely weather related comments like’ Well Mick how are you, what do you think of the day and before I get a chance to respond I hear “we might get a spot of drizzle today, or we could be unlucky enough to get a sprinkle of rain. I love a regular comment by a walking friend of mine; we might be unlucky enough to encounter a passing shower.”so she always brings an umbrella.

There is that lovely weather comment when someone is passing by and has no time to stop for pleasantries"its really Baltic today , you wouldn't want to hang around too long or you'd freeze and that easterly wind would cut you in half".

I just love that very expressive comment that many people use “I was out walking and was caught out in a very heavy shower with the rain bucketing down and I was soaked to the skin.

A friend of mine was talking to an acquaintance in Courtown one drizzly day recently and said, “sticky rain, isn’t it” It was a marvellous description of that seemingly soft Irish rain that in fact soaks a person.

The piece de resistance is “Jesus I was rightly caught out yesterday and got drenched when it was raining cats and dogs.”. This is a lovely term which I think originated in Edinburgh. People reared a lot of cats and dogs and when they died, or they wanted to get rid of an unwanted litter, they threw them out into the wide rain shoots on castles and houses and when the rain came it washed them all away out to the rivers and sea, hence the raining cats and dogs’ term.

Another great barometer for windy weather were the crows when they gathered in great numbers on urban and rural high trees and the decibels increased appreciably.

Farm animals were able to detect inclement weather approaching and so they moved closer together and sheltered near walls, trees or hedges.

I suppose it is only natural that Irish People should speak about the weather because of our geographical position at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and the variety of weathers we can experience in any one day. We are so used to rain wind and sunshine all in the one day, People say you can have 4 seasons in one day. I remember my late mother shouting at me going out the door to school on a fine sunny May morning to throw in a raincoat into my school bag just in case of rain. Nowadays parents are more aware of skin cancers and will ask children if they have the factor 50 on to protect them from the harmful rays of the sun on unprotected skin.

While talking about rain I recall the fear that if it rained on St Swithin's day on July 15th it would rain continuously for 40 days it rarely did.

We have had a reasonably good May this year and people talk about great drying weather, the clothes on the line were dry in an hour. In school days we were taught that a wet and windy May fills the barns with corn and hay

Farming communities are particularly dependant on good weather at certain times of the year. Rain affects crops, livestock and everyday life on a farm and they seem happy enough with the 2026 growing season so far and hopefully we will get some fine weather to ripen the harvest and all the vegetable and fruit crops.

I live near Courtown Harbour in Wexford and weather plays a huge part in the economic life of the village. In fine sunny weather the car parks are full all day .The 99s are in big demand, chippers and food places are busy and there is a great buzz about the place, on the beach, the forest trails, and amusement arcades. The hotels, bars and eateries are all full and the tills are clicking away happily.

In contrast to that in wet cold, miserable weather the whole village has a gloomy air about it and people are more attracted to cinemas and shopping centres. The day trippers are marked absent.

The good news Is that summer 2026 is on the way and the annual influx of holiday makers will fill all the caravan sites around the area, and we can only hope for fine weather and the sound of busy tills and tapping credit card machines. All visitors will get a real céad mile fáilte Wexford welcome.

I think it is fascinating that several books have been written about Irish terms for rain, like ag cur báistí, cafarnach, meaning drizzle ag cur fearthainne, or bhi sé ag batharnach meaning raining in torrents.

I just love the late Manchán Magan book Ninety -nine words for rain [ and One for Sun]

This is my favourite one “Má bhíonn an spideog faoi thor ar maidin beidh sé ina lá fhliuch,

Ach má bhíonn sí ar an ngéag is airde is í ag gabhail cheoil, beidh sé ina lá mhaith".

This means ‘Rain is on the way if the robin hides behind a bush at morning time, but if he sings from the highest branch around, a pleasant day can be expected.

The sun has only one word for it in Irish “An Ghrian”,compared to 99 for rain. I wonder does that mean we have always had 99 times more rain than sun. Nil a fhios agam.

Maybe we should have a national competition to create more Irish words for the sun, and we could become like the Australians who spend a lot of time talking about sun and extreme heat. And then again maybe not as we are happy with our current mild damp weather. If we had constant good weather we’d have nothing to talk about

FÓGRA

THE NATURAL STORYTELLER, MY LATEST COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES AND POEMS IS NOW ON SALE AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS Kavanaghs (Wexford Road, Arklow), Easons (Gorey), Myles Doyle (Gorey), Springmount Garden Centre, Gala Store (Courtown), Partridges ,Gorey, Tara Vie Hotel (Courtown), Red Books (Wexford), and The Book Centre (Wexford). You can also purchase it online at www.theirishbookshop.com or directly from myself, priced fifteen euros.

Mick O Callaghan.  15/05/2026       www.aramblersblog.com