Ahhh the Irish weather. Never has a topic of conversation consumed a nation as much as the weather does in Ireland. Visitors to the country are often bemused as to the amount of time given over to the weather in everyday conversation. Most talk is given over to the upcoming weather, a little less to the current weather and when all else fails many still like to recount the weather extremes of times gone by. This fascination is all the more perplexing when in comparison to most countries Ireland’s climate is even and temperate; never too cold in the Winter nor too hot in the Summer, hurricanes are unheard of and droughts and floods are rare.
The current Nissan Irish Open has shown however that the weather can still greatly influence a golf tournament in Ireland. With play having to be postponed due to heavy rain and strong winds it brings to mind the question what type of weather we might expect for the 36th Ryder Cup in September.
I will leave the more occult forecasting techniques involving tea-leaves or hazel rod divination to those more in tune with them and look at the climate data for September from Ireland’s national weather centre Met Eireann. Firstly it’s not going to be hot with the average September temperature ranging 9 to 17 degrees celsius (48 – 63 fahrenheit). Rainfaill statistics for the period are suprisingly good with an average rainfall for September of 62.3 mm (2.5 inches) making it drier than both August and October around it. Wind, which could play a crucial factor on some of the tighter holes and raised greens averages 11 knots with a 47% chance of winds exceeding Force 4 (source windfinder.com).
So all in all it looks like the standard Irish weather forecast. Mixed in parts, sunny with an outbreak of showers and the possibility of winds most likely from the south-west. Here’s hoping for one of those rare Indian summers so that we can all enjoy a great golfing competition in the true spirit of the Ryder Cup.
