Snow Showers

Tuesday, 29th January:

The sleet and snow is on the way at last. Several thousand flies, moths and other insects died in Abbeyside last night. They simply thought the mild weather would continue forever. If they had listened to the pretty Met Éireann female forecasters they might be alive today.
It was down to 3..3 Celsius in the glasshouse last night. That was the temperature under the fleece protector. It is likely that the tomato, aubretia and penstemon seedlings would be dead without it. They had been in the heated propagator at 20 degrees Celsius until last week so they are currently in shock. Likely, the fleece holds a little extra heat within, yet it's important to roll it away each morning as soon as the temperature begins to rise. This will be a twice-daily chore over the coming days due to north-westerly Arctic air. Furthermore agus freisin, when there's moisture in this Arctic air we shall have sleet or snow.
We faced such a situation in Cappoquin this morning on the bikes. A heavy flurry of sneachta brought all conversations to a halt, save for cursing which was allowed.
We are very fortunate here on the south-east coast of Ireland in that we escape the harshest of the weather. By the time we arrived in Ardmore the watery sun was shining once more, but when I arrived home there was a second severe snow shower. Time to wrap the fleece around the seedlings in the teach gloine once more.