Spring 2016 weather woes continue for farmers with Met Eireann issuing two rainfall warnings for Munster counties this afternoon.
A Status Orange warning has been issued for Cork. Met Eireann says 40 to 70 mm rainfall is to be expected over the course of Sunday. It says heaviest falls along the south coast and in mountainous areas.
Met Eireann has also issued a Status Yellow rainfall warning for Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford with up to 25 to 50 mm rainfall forecast on Sunday. Again Met Eireann warns that the heaviest falls will be in mountainous areas.
Met Eireann
The rain will spread across Munster and south-Leinster early tomorrow morning, and will continue all day.
It will be heavy with localised flooding, especially in south Munster.
The northern half of the country will be mainly dry with some bright spells. Highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees in easterly winds, which will be strong and gusty in the south.
Weather woes
It comes as farmers throughout the country continue to struggle with unseasonably wet and cold weather this spring.
March grass growth rates were 50% behind last year’s levels, according to Teagasc’s George Ramsbottom.
Teagasc’s PastureBase shows that the average grass growth rate on a number of dairy research and commercial farms is 15kg Dry Matter per hectare per day.
“Typically it would be expected to see growth rates of almost double this at 25-30kg DM/ha per day in late March, so that’s half of what we’d normally expect,” the Teagasc Dairy Specialist said.
“The reason for such low growth rates is the low temperatures – a key driver of grass growth in early spring. Currently, temperatures are averaging 7 degrees Celcius on farms which is almost 2 degrees Celcius lower than normal.”
Meanwhile, less than 20% of the national spring barley crop has been planted, according to Tim O’Donovan, who said that February rainfall has impacted hugely on sowing levels.
The Teagasc Tillage Specialist said that while some small pockets of spring barley have seen plantings of near 50%, the national figure for spring barley sowings is less than 20%.
Outlook
According to Met Eireann, current forecasts don’t offer much relief for farmers. On Monday, showery outbreaks of rain will be fairly widespread through much of the country for the morning.
However, it does say that the rain will become more scattered during the second half of the day and temperatures are set to improve to 12 or 13 in the south, but staying around 8 to 10 degrees in the north.
Tuesday will be generally cloudy with further showers or showery rain. Still cool with highs of 8 to 12 degrees in easterly winds.
Wednesday is forecast to be overall a much brighter day with good sunshine during the morning but heavy showers breaking out in the afternoon. Highest temperatures of 12 or 13 degrees for much of the country, but only 8 to 10 degrees in the north.
At this stage Met Eireann says the rest of the week will see Little improvement; further showers or showery rain with temperatures remaining below normal in easterly winds.