If this is ‘settled’ weather, I’d hate to see what they call ‘disturbed’

With some trepidation I logged on to Met Éireann’s website in order to see if the fine weather we enjoyed at the weekend had been just a fleeting taste of summer or the start of something more settled after our rain-soaked months of gloom.

The initial forecast for the week ahead sounded promising, stating: ‘The weather will be mostly settled for the rest of the week with good dry intervals and some sunshine, and just a few outbreaks of rain’.

A bit like Gaybo’s old “something for everybody in the audience” adage, and after closer inspection of the day-to-day forecast, I could only conclude that Met Eireann’s definition of “mostly settled” was a somewhat singular interpretation of the English language, considering that each day of the coming week held the threat of some sort of precipitation.

Monday itself, although warm, was to be “mainly cloudy with outbreaks of rain”. This would lead into a Tuesday forecast to be “cloudy with further outbreaks of rain… persistent and heavy for a time”.

Admittedly, Wednesday did seem a little better overall.

However, the threat of “cloud further south with still some light rain” remained.

So, what about Thursday and Friday as the weekend beckoned?

Surely some improvement, given the “mostly settled” forecast promised? Well, Thursday sounded alright provided you’re not based in the south of the country where “cloud and some rain” appeared to be still the order of the day and Friday, whilst ‘starting dry’, ominously concluded that ‘some rain would develop during the day’.

Given that this regime constitutes their interpretation of a “mostly settled” week, would Met Éireann care to outline what they would define as an “unsettled” or “disturbed” period of weather?

One way or the other, perhaps it’s a bit premature to be stocking up on the factor 20.

JD Mangan

Stillorgan

Co Dublin