Tag Archives: November

SHANNON weather station has recorded a new temperature record for a November day. On Friday, November 11, the temperature at the Met Éireann weather station in Shannon never dropped below 14.9 degrees celsius. This represented a new November highest daily minimum temperature record for Ireland. It was an exceptionally warm month of November in general at Shannon, well ahead of the long term average for the month. It was also particularly sunny for the time of year, with 71 hours and 36 minutes of sunshine over the course of the month, 21% more than the long term November average. On the negative side, the amount of rainfall for the month in Shannon was 44% greater than the long term average. The Met Éireann report for the month said, “November 2022 was a mild and windy month, dominated by Atlantic low pressure systems to the west of Ireland, with the airflow mostly between southerly and south-westerly. “This set-up steered many tropical …

TO the ancient Celts, the year had two ‘hinges’. These were Beltaine (the first of May) and Samhain, (the first of November), which is also the traditional Celtic New Year. These two days were the most magical, and often frightening, times of the whole year. The Irish and Scots Celts began celebrating Samhain more than 2,000 years ago. Samhain marked the time cattle were brought in from their summer grazing to their winter fold. By that stage, the harvest was done and food stored. The gods were petitioned to protect the cattle during the long, hard winter. Samhain is also the night of the Great Sabbat for the witches (Ban-Druidh, in Scots Gaelic). On Hallowmas, all the witches of Scotland gather together to celebrate, prophesy and cast their spells. Tradition has it that on this night, they can be seen flying through the air on broomsticks with black cats, ravens or horses on their wild Hallowmas Ride. Some say the …