Ben Lowry: I have over time come to like the Northern Ireland weather

(Scroll down for link to other people who like the NI weather and other articles by Ben Lowry)

That was the forecast when I wrote this on Friday, and as you saw in the satellite image on page 8, taken last evening (see link below), the downpours were coming in from the Atlantic as predicted. Last month was the wettest July on record in Northern Ireland, with fractionally more rain than in the previous wettest, in 1937. I do wonder whether the fact it rained on St Swithin’s Day has something to do with it. According to legend that means rain for 40 days. It is now three weeks since that feast day for an Anglo Saxon bishop, more than halfway to the 40, and I bet it has rained somewhere in NI each day.

Who could welcome such conditions? Not me, but in a funny way it has reaffirmed July as one of my favourite months in this province. The reason I say that is the even the worst of Julys has been enjoyable in a specifically summery Ulster way.

NI is in bloom in July and August, when the year-round rain we get makes it stunningly lush. They are also the only months when you can easily interact with that outdoors because you barely ever need to put on extra clothes (or, if inside, the heating). If it does rain outside you can wear light clothes under a light waterproof jacket, as I am doing in Donegal last month in the picture above. But it can be chilly in June and is usually so here in September, unlike in southern England which is warm well into that month.

Most showers only last an hour or two – there are far more dry spells. On one of the wettest days last month rain stopped late afternoon and I put on a clothes wash and hung out the garments at 7pm, which were largely dry by sunset at 930pm.

There are only a few weeks in NI when you can do that, helped by days that are almost as long as June. While I find the summer solstice and the prospect of shortening days a gloomy moment, in July the change is gradual. The sun rises and sets on July 31 only half an hour later/earlier than in the June peak.

The picture, at the top of this web page, was taken at 830pm on August 1, an hour before sunset, at a time when London was almost already dark. Look at those glorious sky colours! You do not get that in places that are always sunny.

When I was younger I yearned to escape NI to sun-drenched places. I still like such locations for holidays but now, having travelled a lot, I think the relentless rays could seem sterile if you lived there. Yes the weather can be depressing in NI. I dislike grey, windy autumn or winter days more than the damp ones. But the conditions here keep changing, and unlike, say, Florida we never actually have to escape the climate (as they do for four sweltering summer months).

• Here comes the rain again: The people, including BBC NI weather presenter Barra Best, who love NI's climate

• Satellite of storm moving across NI

• Ben Lowry: The UK including Northern Ireland will not think big when it comes to major infrastructure

• Ben Lowry in 2018: It has ben as hot in NI as in Spain but never quit felt it

• Ben Lowry last week: Signs of friendliness among unionist politicians but not yet of any major realignment