Helen Bach Column: Never underestimate the importance of weather and reliable forecasts
I make no apology, I'm going to talk about the weather. I know I've mentioned it before, but I'm an avid weather watcher - not the 'official' variety who get their pictures shown on the BBC forecast alongside a catchy, obviously made-up name, although I've got a name suitable for it. Big shout out to Helen Earth though - wish I'd have thought of that!
Kudos also to the person who managed to sneak a rude name past the censors - it caused my daughter and I much amusement when it appeared on the screen.
Anyway, back to the actual weather. May half-term was a bit of a wash out wasn't it? So far flaming June has been a bit, well, disappointing. I'm not asking for wall to wall sunshine or anything, but a few dry days here and there so I can get the washing line-dried would be good please.
A friend sent me a link to a very interesting article on the BBC website about the weather and D-Day, and the vital role played by the wife of a lighthouse keeper on the West Coast of Ireland.
Maureen Flavin Sweeney and her husband Ted were tasked with ensuring that reliable regular weather forecasts got through to the Irish Met Service, who in turn reported to their British counterparts. It was on their information that D-Day was delayed by a day until the 6th June when conditions were more clement, thereby ensuring its success and changing the course of the Second World War.
Maureen and Ted didn't find out the importance of their roles until 1956, and a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the Blacksod Lighthouse in County Mayo in 2004; in 2020 Maureen received a special US House of Representatives Honour for her part in assisting with the war effort.
Apparently JFK had asked Eisenhower what had given him the advantage on D-Day, to which he replied "Because we had better meteorologists than the Germans." Lest we forget, those meteorologists were reliant on the reports from an ordinary couple in a lighthouse on the Irish Coast, overlooking the wild Atlantic Ocean.
That's why we should never underestimate the importance of weather and reliable forecasts.