SOMETIMES we feel we are the only country forced to endure wet and miserable weather.
However, a glance around Europe and the wider world in the last few weeks reveals we are definitely not alone.
Barcelona, a city normally reserved for glorious sunshine, this week has been hit with heavy snowfall, the like of which hasn’t been seen in decades.
In fact, it’s the heaviest snowfall in the Catalan capital since 1962 and has been causing road, rail and flight chaos.
On Monday, more than 250,000 homes in north eastern Spain were left without power, while the country’s border with France at La Junquera was forced to close causing 30-mile traffic jams.
Children, as always, are most pleased with snowfall and some 170,000 Spanish pupils had the day off as schools closed their doors. About 3,000 people were put up in a town hall overnight and many others stranded in their cars as railway lines and roads became impassable.
Further afield, Australia has also seen its fair share of nightmare weather this week. Long a popular spot with Irish globetrotters and emigrants, the Melbourne Irish must now be looking skywards cursing their luck. It’s just like home, except worse, much worse.
Speaking in the Daily Telegraph earlier this week, weather expert Kevin Parkyn said it was unlike anything Melbourne had seen since early last century.
"The 6th of March 2010 will go down in Melbourne’s weather history. Lemon-size hail stones in Melbourne? Very rare. And we’re talking large lemons – we’re not talking your little green ones," he said.
Just last week, a freak wave hit a Mediterranean cruise ship killing two people and causing mass panic on the liner. The eight-metre (26-foot) high waves injured another 14 people.
"It was a monster wave. It smashed all the windows. Everything happened so quickly," said one passenger.
Last month, hurricane-force winds, surging seas and driving rain lashed western Europe, leaving dozens dead.
Last month also saw a series of mudslides following huge amounts of rainfall left 42 dead, more than 120 others injured and an unknown number are missing.
Heavy rains brought tonnes of mud and stones down the slopes of the island, flooding the streets of the regional capital, Funchal.
However, despite such unusually fierce weather hitting Europe and farther afield, Ireland has been unseasonably calm for this time of year.
Although colder than normal, Ireland has seen a prolonged period of dry weather which looks set to continue.
According to forecaster with Met Éireann Siobhán Ryan, Ireland’s fine March weather is due to jet streams occurring farther south than usual.
"A lot of it is due to jet streams farther south than normal so the weather we normally get is not with us as the lows are pushed further south."
"However, it’s just the normal chaos of the atmospherics and the good news is we will get more of the same for the coming days," she said.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, March 11, 2010
