A warm summer so far for Galway and Mother Earth

Country Living with Francis Farragher

We’ve had a warm early start to the Summer in Galway and apparently all over the world as well, according to the latest figures released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

I won’t even pretend to have any clue as to how an average of temperatures across the globe can be calculated but according to NOAA the average temperature across Mother Earth for May, 2014, of 15.54° Celsius was the warmest for the fifth month of the year, since records began back in 1880.

More locally we’ve also enjoyed a warmer start to the early Summer than normal with the NUI Galway Weather Station having June 2014 temperatures almost touching the 15°C mark, almost one degree higher than the norm for the month based on the late Frank Gaffney’s Climate of Galway records from 1966 to 2011.

May temperatures in Galway pretty much came in ‘on the button’ at 11.8°C but the April average of 10.8°C was 1.7°C over the 1966 to 2011, mean figure. All this of course has translated into a really growthy spring and early summer period, with already Teagasc and farmers predicting that the fodder supply situation is looking very positive for the upcoming winter feeding season.

The latest temperature figures have led to warnings from many climate scientists that this is just further evidence of our planet continuing to warm up as the polar icecaps melt, although it does have to be pointed out that there is also a strong body of opinion still challenging this notion.

One of the most notable of these is Daily Telegraph columnist and author Christopher Booker who claims that computer models of historical temperature records across the world have, over recent years, been downsized in order to create the impression that the earth is warming up far more quickly than it actually is.

Not surprisingly, his views have not gone down too well with the vast majority of the weather scientists and academics who are adamant that the evidence is overwhelming to indicate that Mother Earth is warming up far too quickly.

There is speculation that our hotter earth this May could also lead to a bringing forward of another El Nino event – the warming of the waters of the Eastern Pacific – something that could lead to more extremes of weather in the short to medium term.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.