The heatwave that has finally hit Ireland has now ended, with thunderstorms over the country.

Temperatures exceeded 31C this week but as of Sunday night thunder and lightning is now the dominant weather.

Here, lightning over one of Ireland's many fine church buildings.

Red sky at night, shepherd's delight goes the old saying. And that red sky in the evening does usually bring good weather the following day.

There is science to back up the ages old phrase, a red sky is caused by small particles of dust and other airborne particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure.

These particles block light from the sun, scattering or deflecting the light as it passes through the atmosphere.

The shorter wavelengths of blue and violet get scattered more easily leaving more of the longer wavelength red light to make its way across the sky.

Of course, to see this weather phenomenon often it helps when the predominant weather comes from the west which it does in Ireland.

So between you and the sun is the incoming high pressure from the west with dust that scatters shorter wavelengths of light.

Photographers usually enjoy photographing sunsets, so maybe it should be changed to Red sky at night, photographer's delight.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph fine sunsets like these all over Ireland.

It may have been swelteringly hot throughout the rest of Europe this summer, but here in Ireland the heatwave consisted of a week or so of hot weather. 

For much of July 2022 the weather has been colder, wetter and windier than usual and on this occasion we had lots of trouble photographing the coastline along Ireland's famed Wild Atlantic Way.

In fairness, Dublin's Phoenix Park did see 33C in 2022, the second highest temperature recorded in Ireland after the record 33.3C in Kilkenny set in 1887.

I'm not complaining, the stormy weather was much more interesting for photography than sunny, warm and hazy heatwave conditions would have given; crashing waves showing the power of the Atlantic as it meets the geological landscape of these cliffs.

Indeed these cliffs as you see them rise steeply for 100 to 120m above the deep blue ocean below, the rocks here are amongst Ireland's oldest, dating to the Pre-Cambrian.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in Ireland's majestic, stormy wild west.

The weather has been marvellous over the past week in Ireland, although some cold air has arrived to bring frost but at least no snow.

Here, on a journey through one of Ireland's most scenic counties - Tipperary, I drove along the scenic road to a famous viewpoint known as The Vee to photograph the view of the Galty or Galtee Mountains.

The Galty Mountains reach a height of 917.9m and are Ireland's highest inland mountain range, most of the country's highest peaks are much closer to the coast.

Panoramic Ireland is working on a project featuring the area, if you want to see more of this region of Ireland send me an email.

Sunset in the west of Ireland, the spring equinox occurred today March 20th, this sees the sun pass the equator and means that all places on earth effectively receive the same amount of night.

In Ireland, the days started to become longer than night on the 18th of March, a few days ago - this is known as the Equilux.

Here, a few moments before sunset on the equinox the bright and colourful sun edges towards the horizon to mark the official start of spring, even though meteorologically spring begins on the 1st of March and in Ireland, traditionally it begins on the 1st of February or Imbolc which is also Saint Brigid's Day.

At the moment daylight length is increasing by over 4 minutes per day, every day in Dublin although that rate of increase will begin to slow all the way to June 21st when the days will shorten again.

Of course, in Ireland seasons are not fixed and there is quite an overlap between winter and spring, we can still see snow and hailstones in April and heatwaves in February and March - one of which is predicted for the coming week.

2022 sees the return of Saint Patrick's Day celebrations and festivities here in Ireland with 2020 and 2021 having seen cancellations due to COVID-19.

Usually March 17th is the holiday but for 2022 the government has created a new public holiday which this year falls on March 18th to make a double holiday.

From 2023 onwards that new holiday will fall on Saint Brigid's Day, the 1st of February, and Saint Patrick's Day will return to the traditional one day.

With the temperature warming fast and rain forecast, I took the opportunity to walk into the mountains to photograph the snowy landscape.

On the steep road up into the mountains I met a woman, man and their dog, they told me of a long-abandoned village in the mountains; we chatted for a few minutes before I was on my way again walking up that steep, narrow road covered in snow.

Ascending the steep incline to the high ridge, I was almost floored by a strong and constant westerly wind that brought clouds and clear spells minute by minute.

Snow has finally arrived, the 9th of March 2022 and a decent amount too but it is unlikely to last for long.

Ireland has been under a weather warning for wind, rain and snow over the past two days.

When this snow melts, expect flooding.

For now, the landscape is quiet and the colour of the countryside is temporarily changed from green to white.

Saint Patrick's Day is close, March 17th, and we will expect to see a lot more green in Ireland over the next few weeks.

So, to answer one of the most common questions about Irish weather - does it snow in Ireland? - well yes, it does but it's hard to say when it will happen.

Count yourself lucky to experience it unless you have to get somewhere, because the back roads can be treacherously slippy.

There is some wild weather on the way for Ireland this week, stormy winds and rain.

I am planning a visit to the west of Ireland soon and have been looking through images from previous visits.

Here I found this one from 2014 when the late evening sun, partially obscured by fast moving clouds, momentarily illuminated the rocky mountainsides above the lake.

It probably wouldn't be a bad place for a swim, but on this occasion photographing along the entire west coast of Ireland was the endeavour.

Next visit will be for photography as well, but maybe after that a little bit of time to have a picnic and a stroll or even swimming in this fine mountain valley lake.

Why not join me to photograph in Ireland's wild landscapes or in Dublin.

After my last post mentioning the lack of snow thus far in winter 2021-2022, a vista of fresh snowfall in Ireland, the green of the Irish countryside whitened for a short time.

In places, particularly the northwest of the country, enough snow fell to make travel hazardous but further south and east there was only a dusting of snow as seen here.

As of the afternoon, almost all of this snow has gone save for some at the foot of the deep hedges seen here where the sun doesn't reach, behind the orange and green gorse in the middle of the image.

There is a lengthening of daylight as we edge closer to the start of meteorological spring (you might have seen my posts about traditional spring beginning on February 1st) and despite the storms of recent weeks, the days are getting brighter.

Of course with the Irish weather being so unpredictable we still have the potential for snow up to at least the end of March.