Weather averages don’t reflect farmers’ severe 2013 difficulties

The weather created difficulties for farmers in 2013 even though temperatures, rainfall and sunshine were average across the country.

However, a very cold March is likely to have played a major role in triggering the fodder crisis which lasted into the summer.

Overall, 2013 temperatures were average in Ireland, though March was three degrees below average in most parts, and the coldest month of the year (the Met Eireann weather station at Dublin Airport reported its coldest March since it opened in 1942).