THE RETURN to school usually heralds the arrival of good weather and this year is no different. It will come as welcome news to farmers who have been struggling to complete the harvest.
Met Éireann is forecasting dry and warm weather in the coming days with temperatures of up to 20 degrees later in the week. Temperatures of up to 22 degrees were reached yesterday in parts of Leinster and Munster.
Forecaster Pat Clarke said some rain was expected later today but otherwise the week should be dry.
Today’s rain will come in from the Atlantic, hitting the west coast from lunchtime onwards and crossing the country. By dawn tomorrow it should have dried up.
He said tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday would be fine and the good weather might continue into Friday. Temperatures would be in the high teens early this week and might rise to 20 degrees as the week progresses. “It will be very reasonable weather for any outdoor activity.”
The forecast was welcomed by IFA grain chairman Noel Delany, who said farmers had struggled to save their crops in recent weeks. He said 45 per cent of the total harvest had been cut to date. “In a normal season around 90 per cent of the national crop would be harvested by the end of August.”
Mr Delany said there was a huge variation in harvesting around the country. About one- quarter of the grain crop had been harvested in west Cork, compared with 80 per cent in the Carlow region.
“Harvest progress for the past week has been frustratingly slow as weather and deteriorating ground conditions impeded cutting,” he said.
“The harvest for many has become a snatch-and-grab affair with growers being forced to cut crops at significantly higher than normal average moistures of 17 per cent to 19 per cent.” The higher the moisture levels, the more costly it is to dry the crop.
