Ben Lowry: Northern Ireland in perfect weather is actually better than Spain the same conditions
May is the sunniest month of the year, I wrote after the disappointing weather over the Balmoral Show – and sure enough the month did not disappoint.
(To read Ben Lowry’s main column about Sinn Fein having performed badly southern in by-elections, click on this link here)
It has ended with almost perfect weather, that entered its best phase last Sunday. The hottest temperature anywhere in Northern Ireland that day was almost 24 degrees Celsius, on Monday it was 26C, Tuesday 24C, Wednesday 25C and Thursday just shy of 24C. Even yesterday, which was not so warm and not so sunny, comfortably passed 22C in places – which is warmer than the average maximum daily temperature in the province in July and August.
A fine spell of weather in late May is better than high summer because everything is in full bloom, the days are not only super-long, they are getting longer. There is that general sense of joy at summer being ahead.
One morning this week I was having a cup of tea outside before 8am ahead of work and it was like Spain – already in the high teens, and entirely cloudless.
Fine weather in Northern Ireland is, of course, far rarer than it is on the Mediterranean but it is more enjoyable here when we get it, for two reasons: first, the rarity means we savour it more and, second, our year-round grey and damp means that things are lusher in NI, and all the more magical in hot sunshine than it is in arid locations.
Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter editor