Weather Eye The final year

Reviewed by Tom Kennedy on 18 Nov 2009

At the height of the Great War a writer in the The Irish Times wondered if German guns were responsible for a period of 'abominable' weather in Dublin.

As Brendan McWilliams, more than 90 years later noted in his daily column, the idea that noise would cause rain to fall has been cropping up since Roman times, and in his usual erudite style, he followed this up with another article describing the American Congress granted Robert St George Dyrenfort $2,000 to send baloons loaded with explosives up into the air, and by happy coincidence, the first trial resulted in a deluge. Alas, this was a one-off success, and Dyrenfort became known as 'dryhenceforth'.

Brendan McWilliams was one of those rarities, an expert who could write, and his daily Weather Eye column deservidly attracted a big following. It is interesting to compare them to the standard agency dross that, unfortunately, has taken the place of his column, and maybe there is a lesson there for newspapers on the potential value of 'fillers'.

One of the great strengths of Brendan's column, apart from all those wonderful nuggets of miscellaneous information, was that he knew his subject, for, as most people are aware, he was a professional meteorologist, and he obviously enjoyed sharing his knowedge.

As a one time columnist for the same paper, I often wondered how Brendan had the stamina to produce a well crafted column, not just weekly, but every day, and always with a fresh originality. Yet, this is what he continued to do for two decades, and readers were always eager for more, leading him to a regular slot on radio every Tuesday as part of the Pat Kenny show.

His articles stand the test of time, and they are just as enjoyable to read now as they always were. A year after his death in 2007 an anthology of his Weather Eye series became a best seller, and with two decades to choose from, there was no shortage of material to fill another book with 100 of his final columns.

Price: Hardback, €14.99