Easterlies In Ireland |
 Dave Thurlow, Host |
Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow from the Mount Washington Observatory and today on The Weather Notebook, we're joined by commentator Chuck Kruger, who talks about his dislike of the east wind and its proverbial bad luck.
Chuck: "Living on the southernmost island off the Irish coast, I sometimes feel as though I could eat the wind. It blows so fresh, smells so good, whether it's just come over a stretch of heather, or arrived directly off the sea. When from the south, the west, it's been free of new pollution for thousands of miles. As with a good wine, certain winds have bouquet. But most east winds I'd give back to the wind steward.
It's not just the bitter, often dry Siberian cold. Nor the pollution from England, the continent. It's the irrational feeling that here's a wind bodes ill. The cattle hunker down behind dry stone walls. In shop and pub bundled-up Islanders exchange stories of battered east gables, leaky windows.
This last week of January, the wind blackens the east end of our conservatory. The clothesline imparts a black streak across each draped sheet and shirt and towel. The rain that runs off the roof turns the waterbutt's contents black.
Even in the bowels of our home, the stone walls two-and-a-half feet thick, the wind hustles down the chimney with the coal smoke, whines eerily all night long about the eaves.
How I hope the old proverb's wrong: 'When the wind is in the east on Candlemas Day, there it will stick till the end of May'. With Candlemas Day, aka Groundhog Day, coming right up, I'm doubly worried, for another proverb promises that 'if Candlemas Day be fair and clear, there'll be two winters in the year'."
Chuck Kruger is a writer and poet from Cape Clear Island, Ireland. To check out his books, check out weathernotebook.org. Or call us at 1-888-RAIN-001. Our show is underwritten by Subaru, with major support provided by the National Science Foundation.