IT’S RARE THAT we get a Good Snow in Ireland.
The kind of snow that facilitates a proper snowball fight. The kind of snow that makes dogs freak out. The kind of snow that soothes even your father’s deep and burning desire to say “that won’t stick”.
What with it being such an unusual occurrence, it’s always a good idea to keep your eyes peeled whenever there’s snowfall of any significance. The gleaming white, wintry blanket has a tendency to mess with our minds. Blink and you just might miss a big old JCB on its way to your nearest Lidl, ready to tear through the roof in search of some fresh cookies from the bakery.
A surprise springtime snow in Ireland’s climate is surely something to celebrate. A moment of magic, and on a Friday no less! A chance to marvel at the wonder of nature, build a snowman with the kids and make some memories that you’ll cherish forever.
Or… Is it a chance to stay inside on your computer or your smartphone, laying in wait for Met Éireann to say something funny and then slagging them off for a few hours? Read on to discover which option I have chosen for the purpose of this week’s column.
At around midnight on Thursday, the extent of Met Éireann’s knowledge was that “some snow is possible, mainly over high ground”. As such, when everyone awoke to scenes that looked like Santa had fulfilled the wish of a child in a particularly unimaginative Christmas film, there was confusion.
“Snow is notoriously the most difficult to predict in Ireland,” Met Éireann forecaster Brandon Creagh told the Today with Claire Byrne Show on RTÉ Radio 1 on Friday morning. Okay, it’s notoriously difficult to predict. But we have tech for that, right? Right?
“Maybe if we had a crystal ball we would have issued an orange warning,” Creagh went on to say, with an impressive bluntness that was taken to heart by the Irish public, even if it does feel a bit like Irish Water telling us: “Maybe if we could talk to the fish then we would have issued a boil notice”. Not the most reassuring thing you’ll ever hear.
Just when we thought the legacy of Ireland’s austerity years couldn’t be cast in colours any more stark, we find out that our meteorological service doesn’t even have access to a crystal ball. It’s no wonder that the citizens of Ireland are left abandoning their cars while public transport is suspended. Met Éireann may not have a crystal ball, but presumably they have access to some sort of weather forecasting technology. Tea leaves, for example. The phone number of a freelance tarot card reader. A wizened old crone who has prophetic dreams about whether it’ll stick. At the very least, they’ve surely got a big machine that beeps when it’s about to start snowing. It’s the 21st century!
Alas, the difficulty in predicting snow in Ireland has resulted in another frustrating episode in a country that seems to be permanently unprepared for the weather. It’s an unfortunate turn of an events for an organisation that already gets complaints for putting out too many status orange weather warnings, something that Brandon Creagh addressed while speaking to RTÉ. “We cannot over-warn, otherwise people will not believe the orange warning when they come,” Creagh said.
Cold🥶 & blustery tomorrow, with early rain & sleet☔️ over northern counties moving south during the day.
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) February 29, 2024
Some snow is possible, mainly over high ground🌨️.
Drier weather will follow in the NW during the afternoon🌥️
Fresh/strong & gusty N to NE winds🍃
Highs🌡️ of 3 to 6 °C pic.twitter.com/3DmEnaY91M
Met Éireann senior forecaster Gerry Murphy has since conceded that a more serious warning may have been appropriate, given the closure of schools in several counties, major events called off, widespread complaints of ungritted roads covered in dangerous snow, and disrupted public trans.
Most inconveniences suffered by the public as a result of this week’s snow will not be Met Éireann’s fault, though some might argue that they don’t do themselves any favours by headquartering in a brutalist trapezoid that looks like it holds more secrets than Area 51.
It is not Met Éireann’s fault, for example, that snow is falling atop tents being used by refugees in Dublin city centre, where asylum seekers are dealing with drenched belongings, freezing temperatures and socks soaked through with water. As of 23 February, the number of asylum seekers without accommodation in Ireland has now surpassed 1000. Temperatures fell below zero degrees Celsius last night.
In this case, the Irish Refugee Council squarely points the finger at the Irish government and Dublin City Council, saying: “We are deeply concerned by this situation… The Government and Council response is completely inadequate to respond and resolve this escalating crisis”.
Still, it doesn’t fill anyone with confidence to know that country that has such an infamously poor time responding to the weather also has major gaps in knowing when it’s about to snow, and how much.
We’re just lucky that the snow fell this Friday rather than next, as voters set out to make themselves heard in two referendums. Though the snow could end up falling next Friday too, of course. Apparently we have very little way of knowing in advance.
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