WEATHER… Daithi Phair has the sunglasses out
TRADITIONALLY, September is a month people could rely on for good weather but, it seems, the past few weeks took the biscuit on all counts.
According to the Met Office it has been the driest September since records began way back in 1910.
Grassland farmers were happy in that they got in a second cut of silage which will more than tide them over until their animals are put out to grass come the spring, there was a marked increase in visitors to the county, and a ‘feel good’ factor prevailed.
A report issued last week showed that Fermanagh came second in the ‘five happiest places in the UK’. It was compiled by the Office for National Statistics.
People usually associate bad weather with rain, and the county has had plenty of that over the years but not last month.
Owen Sherlock, a meteorologist with Met Eireann (which provides the weather forecast for RTE), told the Herald that, over the last two weeks, rainfall across the country was between 13-40 per cent of a 30-year average.
Temperatures also performed well, at between 1 and 2 and half per cent above average.
“Normally, September would be one of the drier months of the year and that was the case last month. It was nice for us to be able to forecast that kind of weather instead of the wet and miserable stuff.”
And, visitors to the county certainly liked it.
Last month, a total of 2,778 people came through the doors of the (Fermanagh) Tourist Information Centre, near the Ulsterbus depot compared to 2,454 for the same period last year, an increase of 324 visitors.
A spokesman for the centre explained that the European Heritage Open Days on 13th and 14th September drew a lot of visitors, and, the Fermanagh Living History Weekend last weekend was very busy as well.
“Enquiries for boat trips due to the good weather were high as well as walking and cycling”, she added.
Eventing, according to Terry McCartney, the owner of the Belmore Court Motel in Enniskillen, was a big draw for his customers, that and the weather.
“Yes, the weather was reflected in our trade, but the good things for us have been the Heritage Open Days, the Living History Week-end and Fermanagh Live, and other things.
“It helps keeping people in the area and, of course, the weather as well. We’ve had people from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa staying with us and, unlike the Americans who stay for four days, these people take a week or two weeks.
“That’s why it’s important we have things for people coming here to see and places for them to visit.”
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