Weather

It started out another wet and windy week until the winds eased on Thursday. We continued to get some very heavy showers but things looked better on Saturday with bright sunshine as I drove north from Galway. Before reaching Donegal town it had darkened over and from there to Moville we experienced a number of downpours and a few sunny spells. Sunday's occasional showers didn't amount to much.

It seems we are in for a change in the weather. While some parts may have the odd shower today, after that it will remain dry until late Thursday at the earliest. We should also have long bright periods after overnight fog clears. Nights are also expected to be frosty.

Latest Temperatures: Day 9C (48F).................Night 4C (39F)

Weather makes news

For some five weeks rain has fallen every day in many parts of the country, bringing flooding to low-lying areas. We have also been hit by a series of gales which have frequently disrupted travel.

• While visiting flooded farmland south of Athlone in the Shannon Callows during the week Irish Farmers' Association president Pádraig Walshe called for systematic drainage to be carried out in the area. The floods in the area are at their highest in a decade, according to local farmers. The town of Athlone was under flood alert but appears to have been spared.
• The recent gales have seen the islands off the coast of Co. Galway virtually cut off from the mainland. Only a handful of cargo and passenger vessels have been able to reach the Aran Islands and just one has berthed at Inishbofin in the past five weeks. The air service to Inis Mór has been also been grounded and some islanders were unable to make it back from the mainland.
• High speed ferry services on the Irish Sea have frequently remained tied up at the dockside, with passengers forced to use traditional ferries, although from time to time the storms also prevented them from going to sea.
• The heavy rain caused a landslide near the Gleniff Horseshoe in Co. Sligo, blocking part of a remote rural road.
• Some houses were flooded and at least one road impassable near The Neale, south of Ballinrobe in Co. Mayo. Flooding was also reported from Counties Clare, Kilkenny, and Cavan. Saturday's Irish Times carried a photograph of sheep in a snow covered Sally Gap in Co. Wicklow.