Met Eireann is predicting that the unstable weather which has been a feature of June and July so far this year, is set to continue.
This is making farmers across the country scratch their heads as they look at another potentially miserable harvest.
Donegal IFA vice chairman PJ Mc Monagle put it thus in early July: " When the rain first came were glad to get it because late crops like spring barley and spuds were struggling. But if the rain keeps up the grass won’t grow because the ground will be too wet, and grass needs heat as well. All the low lying ground is either water logged or damp at least."
Farmers in the Midlands were also hit with bad weather which has compromised the silage harvest and destroyed cereal crops. Extensive flash flooding was reported too. As PJ put it: "Things have to change within the next two weeks or we'll be buffer-feeding stock as early as August - six weeks early - and that’s going to be bad news for farmers. There are big changes in the weather patterns that farmers would be much more aware of than people who don’t work the land You get two weeks of sun and six weeks of rain. It never used to be like that. Time is not on our side."
April and May were the sunniest and driest for over 50 years - then June comes in as the wettest in a long time, with over 110% more rainfall than average.
Climate change is perhaps already firmly upon us - with a shifted seasonal pattern being the first harbinger of what it may bring.
