With all the talk of a super summer the denizens of Eglish in Tyrone may have justification in feeling a bit miffed. The town seemed to bear the brunt of the storms that descended on the north of the country in early August.
Freak weather conditions caused power cuts in a wide area. Met Office officials believe that over 6000 lightning strikes occurred in the province during the hour-long storm. Two Tyrone families had lucky escapes with lightning bolts hitting their homes.
The NIE view was – " This was a major event that caused extensive damage to property and the electricity grid throughout Ireland."
With the record-breaking heat this summer it must be hoped that growers in the storm zone did not face extended loss of electricity supply.
One can only hope that warnings of more freakish weather for the years ahead turn out to be overly pessimistic.
However the considered opinion of the most eminent meteorologists and ecologists is that this is the beginning of the global warming phenomenon that is set to dominate the century to come.
