On This Day (5 April) in Irish Weather History

A chronological list of weather events and extremes that took place in Ireland on 5 April down through history.

1880: The Mansion House Relief Fund, set up to support communities impacted by the successive failures of the harvests of 1877-79, reports that a relief ship is unable to reach island populations off the Kerry and Cork coastline due to continued rough seas.

1898: The Irish Times reports on a ‘Black Rain’ that fell along Ireland’s east coast, believed to be associated with “soot from the manufacturing towns of North England and South Scotland” being carried at “a very high altitude in a southwest direction”.

1902: Farmland is flooded along the lower River Shannon, including in southeast Clare, following an extended period of heavy rain.

1937: It is confirmed the New York to Paris North Atlantic Race, being held to commemorate Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight, will see competitors flying over Cork and Kerry en route to the French capital.

1941: More than 10,000 convictions are made in Belfast for breaches of blackout rules enforced during the German Luftwaffe’s air campaign in Britain and Northern Ireland. However, calls are made for the blackout to be lifted due to the ongoing unsettled weather, which local politicians claim prevent the Luftwaffe from carrying on bombing raids.

1948: Thunderstorms with hail are reported as snow settling on mountains. Flooding makes the main Clones to Dundalk road impassable.

1951: The Royal Horticultural Society reports that daffodils have yet to flower in most parts of Ireland due to prolonged cold weather.

1977: The Central Statistics Office (CSO) attributes the decline in construction activity in January and February to poor weather. Cement sales declined by 22.5% compared to the previous year.

1983: Snow showers affect the northern half of Ireland as the opening week of April brings well below average temperatures for the time of year.

1989: Met Éireann reports that Malin Head in Donegal recorded its wettest winter since 1885.

1997: Warm weather leads to an algal bloom in Wicklow‘s Roundwood reservoir and consequent disruption to water supplies for 20,000 homes and businesses in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council area.