FAIQ #26 Do You Have Thunderstorms in Ireland?
Q. Do You Have Thunderstorms in Ireland
Answer: We gave them to you.
Thunderstorms started in Ireland and were brought to America in the mid-18th century by the Scots-Irish.
The thunderstorms were seen largely as a solution to differences in the weather that the small farms in the Appalachian regions and the Ohio Valley suffered compared with typical small farms back in Ulster.
Eventually through inter-marriage with the German immigrant population in Pennsylvania who had earlier brought their own more precise, and more intense, weather with them, the nor’easter storm types were created.
When the Scots-Irish moved west, just as they had in the east they continued their highly compatible relationships with Native Americans, empathising perhaps with persecutions of the period. However when the next mass immigration of Irish arrived, those escaping the famine in Ireland and ultimately the tenements of the great eastern cities, the Scots-Irish in conjunction with the tribes of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri launched a new form of storm with violent columns of rotating air known as tornados.
These tornados were designed to keep the new Irish within the larger cities whilst leaving the earlier Irish and their Native American friends free to enjoy a more rural existence. These Irish-American storms were successful in their design until the new Irish constructed railroads and broke out of their cities.
Over time the thunderstorms in America evolved into creatures of hype and myth, added to by new batches of immigrants every decade, until they no longer bore any comparison with their original forms in Ireland.
Last week in Dublin I saw a flash of lightning, or at least I saw the light from the flash rather than the actual bolt. One. Just one. And it was the first I’d seen for years. In the same storm system a 15 year old boy in Dublin was killed when struck by lightning.
On 3 occasions in the 6 months since I returned from Kansas City to live in Ireland have I heard thunder. 3 storms. I’m sure there’s been more but I haven’t noticed them. 3 storms, with some distant gentle rolling thunder and no lightning visible. That’s a lunchtime in Kansas City in spring.
Looking at skies over all of Dublin and parts of Wicklow and Kildare last week, I was thinking how oncoming clouds can look just the same in KC as they do here, but in Kansas City you would say that a storm is on its way - because it is. Here in Ireland you would say that rain is coming, because that’s all that’s going to happen. Just rain. Ordinary rain. Not violent, and not accompanied by any extra winds.
When we were kids in Ireland if somebody heard thunder you unplugged every electrical device in the house to prevent the lightning attacking you in your living room through the means of your favourite television programme. And we got the candles ready.
You rarely saw any lightning though. And remember I’m someone who looks at the sky a lot. In KC however, the more lightning you saw, and the louder the thunder got, then the more you were likely to leave your favourite television programme and go outside and sit and watch the storm.
On 3 days last week I got caught in hail in Dublin. Each time happened in that wonderful mixture of dark clouds and brilliant sunshine. Small lumps of ice like white frozen peas are perfect for belting out of the sky at the bare legs of little boys and girls. And a few minutes later it’s over and you go back out to play again - in a t-shirt. You tended not to call it a storm.
A few minutes after a hailstorm in KC you went ouside to check the roof of your car. It’s not just an age thing.
Only twice ever in Ireland have I seen a thunderstorm with the number of lightning strikes that you get in a storm that KC typically sees 2 or 3 times a week in spring.
So yes is the short answer. Yes, but…
More Frequently Asked Irish Questions:
• #4 : What impresses you most about the United States?
• #19: Have You Ever Been To Ireland?
• #22: You Travel By Train in Ireland, Don’t You?
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
wow - timing!
we had a house shaker this morning, 2:40 AM to be exact, up ’til 3:30 AM.
hail the size of small birds, wind strong as a drunk’s breath, thunder loud as George W Bush’s subtlety, lightening as bright…
well, you get the idea.
i, indeed, did rise early and have a cup while I sat on the front porch
this is one of my favorite things i’ve ever read.
Midwest thunderstorms are the major leagues. In Britain and Ireland storms practice more frequently but just play knockabout really.
That poor boy. I hope it was all over so quick he didn’t have to suffer.