November 23, 1998 transcript # 261-1
Subject(s): Ireland, storms
Title: Stormy Island LifeI'm Dave Thurlow for the Mount Washington Observatory and this is The Weather Notebook. Today we're joined by commentator Chuck Kruger who describes a morning ride by the ocean on a typically stormy Ireland day.
Chuck: "What with the wind howling, slates vibrating, rain, sleet and hail battering our windows, we didn't catch much shut-eye. In the morning, struggling into our island jalopy, we wrestled our respective doors lest they be ripped off by gusts. When I rolled down my window to clear moisture from the windscreen, a blast shut my eyes. We were glad the tide was out; otherwise we'd have been blanketed by heavy spray or breakers.
Curious, we made our way, directionless as a rudderless ship, about this southernmost of Irish isles we call home. We drove down a dirt road to the sea's edge, gawked at the pandemonium. Yellow figures caught our eye. Ragworm bait-farmers scurried about. We had to yell to converse, partly because of the wind, partly the roar of the sea. One man we hollered to hollered back stories of a rogue wave that hit the Aran Isle of Inish Mor in 1942. Another signaled he was double-checking emergency back-up equipment. A woman wearing hip boots hustled by, monkey-wrench in hand.
When we groggily awoke the next morning, the storm had abated. My wife decided to telephone a food order to the mainland only to discover our line was dead. I flicked on the TV to catch a weather report only to discover no picture: the outside aerial had snapped. But the bait farm was in place. Our roof was on. All we had to do was repaint the west gable. Child's play."
Chuck Kruger is a writer and storyteller from Cape Clear Island, Ireland, a place known for it's noticeable weather.To purchase his book on Ireland life, be sure to visit our website at weathernotebook.org. Funding for our show comes from Subaru and the National Science Foundation.