The start of Spring

Waves washing over Salthill Promenade

Picture shows a wave crashing over Salthill Promenade this morning (about 30/40 minutes after high tide). A gallery of images from the storm this morning can be found here.

Today is Imbolc – a pre-Christian festival that marks the beginning of Spring. It is also the feast day of St Brigid, and it is also the occasion of yet another storm to wash over the west coast of Ireland. According to a tweet from Galway County Council a while ago, the tide reached 5.9 metres, compared to the 6.5 metre tide a month ago. I went down to Salthill this morning just after 6am (high tide was 5.50) and it was clear that the flooding this time was not as serious as the previous time. The extra high metre was probably the main difference – water came to the edge of buildings along the Promenade but didn’t look as if it had flooded inside. Even though it was fairly wild this morning (there was thunder and lightning at around 5.30, when I awoke), the wind was not as strong as the January storm, though it is picking up steadily as I write this. There was no sign of large rocks strewn across the Promenade as there had been last month either.

Stormy weather is predicted to continue and there will be a further danger of flooding tonight and tomorrow as the wind picks up, and the tides are still relatively high. Well done to all the Council workers and other state agencies (including An Garda Siochana and the Fire Brigade) who were all in action from very early this morning.