SOME years ago, that most eminent of Irish meteorologists, the late Austin Bourke, noted that we in Ireland "are spared the disastrous weather extremes which plague many other lands. We are not afflicted by hurricanes, tornadoes, duststorms, avalanches, torrential rains or really disastrous floods, killing droughts, or fatal extremes of heat or cold. One could also add no snakes, no poison ivy, no mosquitoes; it is virtually unique to find a countryside in which one can, walk so freely with so little menace from anything other than man.
Dr Bourke was right, of course, that we do not suffer from any of the listed hazards to the extent that they sometimes devastate other countries of the world. But we get a taste occasionally, and in so far as we do, they provide the subject matter for the Annual One Day Meeting of the Irish Meteorological Society. Its theme this year is "Weather Hazards", and would be active participants, or merely passive listeners, are welcome to come to the Tara Towers Hotel on Merrion Road, Dublin, at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
The first talk is entitled "Impact Weather Forecasting: A Scottish Perspective", which I must confess brings to mind Neville Chamberlain's remarks - about Sudetenland - a faraway country of whose people we know very little. But I feel sure that this lacuna will have been amply filled by Douglas Yule before they serve the coffee at 11.20 a.m.
"The Drought of 1995" is the topic tackled by Micheal Mac Carthaigh of the EPA, which, remembering the long, hot, glorious summer of that year, seems like the meteorological equivalent of snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory. And no doubt drought will also feature as one of the "Weather Hazards in Tillage Cropping" addressed by Dr Michael Conry of Teagasc just before the break for lunch.
Tom Larkin of Met Eireann will talk of TELFLOOD in the afternoon. TELFLOOD is an ambitious project aimed at linking the rainfall predictions provided by computer forecast models to the hydrological characteristics of a river catchment area, the idea being to use the model to predict flooding. The project concentrates on the Dodder Valley as a case study and the lecture will review the severe flooding associated with Hurricane Charlie in 1986.
The final speaker of the day at 3.10 pm. will be Dr John Sweeney of St Patrick's College, Maynooth currently president of the society. His chosen specialised subject will be "Storm Statistics", on which he is a recognised authority.