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WE HERE in TheJournal.ie are dedicated to understanding what you need to know, when you need to know it.
Data from the Ballivor Analytics Net Topic Engagement Ratings (BANTER) – which measures online news consumer habits – has revealed that the topic which most fires up our readers is the state of the weather.
So today we launched our daily morning weather liveblog, ensuring you know whether to bring an umbrella with you when you leave home in the morning, or to slap on the suncream when you head for a sandwich.
Thanks to all our readers for staying tuned to updates from our sophisticated rainvane, the Drying Index™, and our interactive mascot, Clive the LiveFrog™.
If you have any pics or videos of the weather in your area, send them to tips@thejournal.ie or tweet them at @thejournal_ie using the hashtag #weatherblog.
It’s Michelle Hennessy here, taking the reins of our #weatherblog this morning. It’s lovely and sunny here in Dublin – here’s a little snap from the top of TheJournal.ie HQ:
How’s the weather where you are this morning?
So let’s kick off with a quick overview of the weather ahead today. According to Met Éireann, we’ll have a bit of a dull start in many areas with mist and fog patches. If you’re driving, keep those lights on.
That rain we had overnight will clear and, wait for it, there’ll be SOME sunny spells. The afternoon will and evening will turn a little showery so bring the brolley just in case.
The rainfall radar is looking pretty clear this morning…
We don’t want to worry you but Met Éireann says there’s a risk of thunder later this afternoon.
At least it won’t be too cold though – highest temperatures will soar to between 13 and 16 degrees.
Great reaction to the #weatherblog so far. Keep sending us updates and pics from your area.
BREAKING from our Nicky Ryan this morning – there was a slight breeze swirling around Leinster House…
Now that we’ve got the weather overview out of the way, let me introduce you to one of our fancy #weatherblog features.
Irish people understand more than anyone the importance of good drying. If you’ve put a load of washing out on the line, you know you’ll spend half the day worrying about it.
With that in mind, we’ve developed a site that will tell you at any time of the day whether it’s safe to put out your wet clothes. Go to GoodDrying to see what it’s like where you are. And tell your mammy about it – she’ll love this.
We got a thumbs up from GoodDrying earlier this morning:
So we put out a bit of our own washing:
We’ll be keeping an eye on this soggy t-shirt throughout the day to let you know how good the drying actually is here in Dublin. If you want to do the same, take a photo of your clothes line and send it to tips@thejournal.ie or tweet it at @thejournal_ie.
Now a word from Irish Mammy, just in case you’re seeing those sunny spells forecast for today and are thinking of leaving some of your layers behind:
Experts have told us that the best way to dress for this kind of mild weather is in light layers – but maybe not as many as this lad:
(Image: Guinness World Records/YouTube)
Eoin is on board with GoodDrying. How about the rest of you? How dry are your delicates right now?
We’re feeling nostalgic this morning and so for our #weatherblog Burning Question we’re asking: Will we have a summer like that of 1959?
Controversial, we know. Answers in the comments section please.
This is Dublin model Sheila McDonough claiming to fry eggs on the roof of her car at Seapoint in June 1959. Your legs, Sheila! Mind your legs!
(Image: PA)
Quick update from Met Éireann – there are currently no national weather warnings in place:
Our lovely editor Susan Daly has arrived in the office. She’s prepared for all weather conditions today:
Another update from Nicky Ryan at Leinster House: “The breeze is going the other way now.”
Here at TheJournal.ie HQ it’ still sunny outside:
We just went out to check on the t-shirt there. Still wet:
GoodDrying is still telling us we’re good to go though:
As part of the #flegwatch section of our #weatherblog, we’ll be looking the floppiness level of flags across the country to gauge how breezy it is. Let’s start with these two in Dublin:
Just a little bit of a flutter…
We haven’t forgotten the Cork lads Andrew, don’t you worry:
If you feel like your area is being neglected in our #weatherblog, why not send us a photo of the weather where you are to tips@thejournal.ie? Or tweet it to @thejournal_ie.
Thanks to Michelle Hennessy for those important Drying Index™ updates.
It’s TheJournal.ie editor Susan Daly here taking over our spanking new weather liveblog.
Or should I say, LIVEFROG.
Here’s what Clive the LiveFrog™ feels about the situation in Cork. Mishty, bai. He likes that.
Meanwhile, not to rub it in but…
And the vote is in from the D6w jury:
This just in from our political editor Hugh O’Connell at Leinster House:
This morning’s Cabinet meeting is likely to feature some discussion on the weather. One senior source noted a divide between the coalition parties on weather (ahem) the current conditions constitute good drying or not. The government may issue a statement later to clarify matters.
“Thankfully, we’re all agreed that there is now a grand stretch in the evenings,” one minister, who declined to be named due to the sensitive nature of the discussions, told TheJournal.ie.
This really is getting political. From reader (and Clive the LiveFrog’s nemesis), Harry the Cat:
The latest on #flegwatch for you, Harry, from across the road from the Department of the Taoiseach:
Limp, lads. She’s fierce limp.
The Irish Mammy Seven-Word Weather barometer isn’t convinced though.
It was dear you know. €11!
WARNING: The following image contains flagrant and graphic flouting of superstition and may cause distress to some readers.
This was our News Editor, Sineád O’Carroll, just moments ago.
From our Old Wives’ Tales Correspondent, Michelle Hennessy: “I can’t even look at you. You are dead to me.”
Today’s Bonus Burning Question: When is it alright to open an umbrella indoors?
More love for Clive the LiveFrog™.
Should we get him an agent? Will he start demanding we bring him soy chai low-fat lattes?
This is Clive the LiveFrog’s favourite:
Hot on the radar front is our reporter Nicky Ryan. He’s predicting widespread showers across the afternoon. Hence the poncho.
Remember I Know What You Did Last Summer? Hmm. Hands/hook where we can see them, Nicky.
And now for a weather-related musical interlude:
#CrowdedHouse4eva
Not everyone can report on the weather you know.
Jean Byrne and Evelyn Cusack can:
Jeremy Paxman can:
Finally, Kevin Sammon, FINALLY.
This can’t be right.
Is this some sort of April Fool’s, Met Éireann?
Michael Dowling from Lucan confirms that it is sunny in Lucan:
And reporter Michelle Hennessy has been out at the Drying Index™:
The t-shirt update is that it’s still fairly damp at the bottom but with a few healthy dry patches at the top where the sun is hitting it. We might need to give it a turn in a while.
Thank YOU Michelle.
And just to confirm from Good Drying:
But could it be too nice?
The Irish Mammy Seven-Word Weather #3
“It’s not so much the heat, it’s the humidity.”
Latest from #flegwatch.
Floppy.
Now from our international weather bureaux.
Lashing in Edinburgh, snow showers in Yekaterinburg, grey in Geneva.
Them’s the breaks, folks.
Oh noes! Watch out Wexford!
Tiny patches of rain spotted on the horizon.
Sunny SouthEast, my eyeball.
Clive the LiveFrog™ likes rain, but he is sad for the people of Wexford.
Hold on, people of Wexford.
TheJournal.ie’s latest order of mojo equipment has landed and intrepid reporter Michelle Hennessy is on her way.
You GUYS!!!!
So can we have a vote in the comments then? Should TheJournal.ie‘s daily #weatherblog stay?
It’s 11.30am.
Take a break with Christine Bohan’s weather playlist on Spotify.
She’s good to you like that.
According to our international weather bureaux hotline, there is a place called Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
And it’s “Clear. Frigid” there right now. Oh.
Meanwhile,
Let’s not get carried away with ourselves though.
Watch the shnakey rainfront creeping in there off the southwest coast…
Which reminds us…
Animal rights groups in Ireland say all dog owners should have some kind of rain cover for their pooches if they’re going to bring them for walks in our downpours. Does your four-legged friend have their own cosy coat?
This might be an appropriate time for this week’s TV snap: Preview of entrepreneurial brainwave to hit Dragons’ Den next Sunday night…
Pic: Photocall Ireland
We know TheJournal.ie prides itself on breaking new ground, disrupting the interwebz.
But we can’t claim credit for the first weather forecast – that was made on 1 August, 1861.
The verdict then? Fresh westerly breeze; fine.
Before we leave you, a final update on the wet t-shirt.
One small wet patch.
Into the airing cupboard with you.
We hope we got you through the morning safely and you have a fair notion whether to take the umbrella out with you at lunchtime.
As we expected, the great people of Ireland have it in hand now:
You heard the man.
So it’s a goodbye from her:
The Irish Mammy Seven-Word Weather
Because you never know when good drying might turn on you
And a goodbye from him.
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Very strange that Germany can expand a Coal Mine, but the Irish have to close their Bogs and stop cutting Turf. Where’s the equality in Europe.
@Owen G Mc Ginley: all down to good old eamo
@Owen G Mc Ginley: Turf cutting is regulated under the RAMSAR Directive, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), EU legislation, including the Water Framework
Directive etc., the main aims of these international agreements is to preserve biodiversity, reducing CO2 emissions plays a secondary role. These lignite coal mines are not wetlands, so they avoided most regulations that govern turf cutting.
Germany reopened its lignite coal mines after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, that resulted in them deciding to close all their Nuclear Power Plants under pressure from the Greens. That resulted in a shortfall in energy generation as they had not built enough renewable generation to fill the gap, that gap was filled by reopening giant Lignite mines and importing more electricity from France (which ironically gets most of its energy from Nuclear).
https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-climate-targets
@Owen G Mc Ginley: eamon wants to be a great green god of Europe.
@Giles Wolohan: Good old Vlad more like.
@David Jordan: David they are reopening the coal mines not because of Fukushima but the sanctions they put on Russian gas and the Nord stream pipeline being blown up.
@Owen G Mc Ginley: you do know we have plenty of our own coal mines in Ireland, that should be opened up too, if the Germanys can do it why can’t we!!!!
@Phil Keran: plenty of coal mines… :-D Name one that would be profitable to put on stream….
@Mac Dara Powell: no, this is not related to recent events. The protests have been going on since 2012, the sizes of the protests increase when a village gets demolished.
Under German law all lignite mines are due to close by 2038, that hasn’t changed. Also, the Garzweiler II mine is due to close sooner, by 2030, that hasn’t changed. Germany extended the life of its lignite mines after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and closure of all its nuclear power plants.
Garzweiler II mine opened in 1980, the planned demolition of 12 villages and towns, and the eviction of 12,000 people, is part of the long term plan to expand the surface mine. The mine covers an area of 32 km2, but it’s approved to expand to over an area of 110 km2 (area of Dublin City, not county). It will mine 1.1 billion tonnes of Lignite over the next c. 7-8 years.
Should just ignore her spoilt brat
@John Moloney: stay classy John.
@John Moloney: Can you explain how she is spoilt? All ears if you have some evidence of that, not an opinion or conspiracy but actual evidence
@John Moloney: daft comment
@jason weir: Really thats your opinion in reality its true
@John Moloney: Maybe she appears that way to you because she wants to save this planet and its ecosystem to stop humans from destroying everything in the name of profit. She’s not just going to accept the status quo ‘this is just the way it is’ and I respect her for that. She could go to college, become an accountant, and be a 9 to 5 droid to our economic system for the rest of her life (the system which is destroying our planet for profit) but she’s chosen to be give up any semblance of a normal childhood and early adulthood to raise awareness. Full respect from me.
@JC O’Connachain: Greta Thunberg’s net worth in over $1 million. Do not think she is suffering from lack of food and shelter as are millions of people in third world countries who need cheap fuel for heat and survival. Greta is a perfect example of the do as I say not as I do twits of this world.
https://www.tuko.co.ke/406466-greta-thunberg-net-worth-2022-how-wealthy-teen-climate-activist.html
@Tomo: save the planet explain how she gets to every country while she saves the planet is she walking
@Don Hogan: So do you have to be especially poor before you’re allowed to protest climate breakdown? What’s the cut-off point? Can you protest a bit if you’re quite well-off, but not really rich?
@Tomo: 100% agree
@John Moloney: So your logic is:
Greta uses public transport like the rest of us = as a result she’s not allowed to criticise the system or raise awareness?
That’s like saying people who use the HSE services can’t criticise the government’s health policies. Ridiculous logic – in fact I’m not sure that’s logic at all.
100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. The only meaningful change is for government intervention and regulation. Individuals doing x or y isn’t going to do anything.
@John Moloney: Ignore John, he won’t save ye. He’s the spoilt one here.
@Don Hogan: Ah Don, I’ve read the above article and if you are basing your argument on something the Sun says you are on a weak footing. They have had classy views on a wide range of things including Hillsborough
@JC O’Connachain: the staged ‘arrest’ to enhance her activist status.
Good to see the German cops doing their job, climate zealots ideology don’t care that their is a very serious temporary energy problem for Germany and Europe, only care about their own climate Religion,
@Ned: yep nazis onthe rise again cop on ya fool
@Ned: ‘Temporary energy problem’? Can you expand on that?
@Ned: This is not related to recent events, Germany reopened its Lignite surface mines after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which provoked them to close all their nuclear reactors.
The demolition of 12 villages and towns is part of the long term plan to expand the Garzweiler surface mine. The mine covers an area of 32 km2, but it’s approved to expand to over an area of 110 km2 (area of Dublin City, not county).
View of the mine: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48734321
It will mine 1.1 billion tonnes of Lignite over the next 15 years, until 2038, after which Germany will phase out Lignite mining.
It won’t be 110 km2 at any one time, as it fills in the hole behind it as it goes and the land is put back the way as it was, but minus the 12,000 people that will be evicted from their homes (30,000 people were evicted since 1980).
@David Jordan: I think more impactful views of the mine literally eating up farmland and nearing the next villages in The Atlantic here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2023/01/luetzerath-protests-german-coal-mine-expands/672696/
Kind of apocalyptic looking to my eyes
@jason weir: name caller you just revealed the type of person you are, you have a lot of class all of it low.
@Claude Saulnier: no need you should know if you are paying attention to what is going on in Europe right now.
@David Jordan: fair comment but I have read somewhere that the Germans want faze out coal in the next 10 years??
@Ned: say they haven’t been paying attention, can you not explain considering you seem to know so much?
@Jen Mc: nothing to explain, with all the news and social media to tap into for all this info not my problem if some people have their head in the sand like the auld ostrich,
Why isn’t she in school
@Míleata Watch Co: think shes too old why are you not in play school
/
@John Moloney: sad post
@Míleata Watch Co: She’s 20. An adult. She can do what she wants!
@damian: John Moloney is our resident Ukraine expert. Maybe he should stick with what he knows best.
@Míleata Watch Co:
Seriously? Where have you been for the past five years? Don’t you understand yet why she is not in school? Why millions of students follow her in not being in school? Are you a recently arrived alien?
Wow, woman arrested in Germany at protest .
#freeGreta
@Séan Ó Nuanáin: she’s free so????
All I see here is a lot of grown men disliking a young adult for no reason. There’s just no way she has affected any of their lives.
@Jen Mc: It’s to do with a subconscious bias towards a young girl trying to change the world for the better. Psychologists reckon it’s a loss of control thing. There’s a mountain of science behind it. It’s fascinating. BTW, I’m a middle aged man and I think she’s doing a great job.
@Stephen Deegan: I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, Stephen. And to be fair there a few lads here supporting her. I guess I’m just also surprised by the amount here who dislike her for no apparent reason.
@Jen Mc: a sure nobody men or women dislikes her they just dislike how they zealots in the climate religion use her for their own interests.
Pity about her
Where’s the wizard of mud video?
@potnoodle: https://youtu.be/KUOir-SAKDs
That’s gas
I didnt like her before but she layed the smackdown on Andrew Tate so that put her up in my estimation.
Cue the men of a certain age:
Splashing paint on the poor coal….but seriously, it seems she’s gotta protest at anything to remain relevant.
Great photo! Everyone looks quite content.
have your say