Episode 4 Weather Watchers with Barra Best

I'm in the rich and fertile land of County Down,

deep in these fields of gold.

I'll never underestimate the importance of why people

get in touch to find out what our weather's going to do,

should they be trying to organise a barbecue

or paint the garden fence.

But for some, their livelihoods depend on it,

so I've come here to find out how important an accurate forecast is.

This is Allan Chambers and his farm is on the Lecale peninsula.

We're surrounded on three sides by water, so we're quite mild.

We don't get heavy frost.

But the most important thing

is that we have probably the lowest annual rainfall in Northern Ireland

and that's between 28-30 inches.

Why is that?

Well, we're on the sheltered side of the Morne Mountains,

so the Atlantic troughs, the Atlantic fronts

that bring the weather, the showers and the rain in,

tend to deposit most of the rain

on the far side of the mountains from here.

It's an arable area and Allan can grow crops

that most of Northern Ireland's farmers find difficult to do.

We're growing three crops - wheat, barley and forage maize.

All those crops need to be drilled and sown in dry conditions,

when the ground is suitable,

and when it comes to looking after them,

we have to have low wind for doing spraying,

good ground conditions to get machines on the field.

Today, we're harvesting the wheat.

We've been watching the weather carefully,

because we want to get the machines in when the grain is at its driest.

Well, I've been an arable farmer now for 50 years and basically,

my life has been ruled by the weather.

I need to plan ahead.

I need to know when I'm going to get these windows that will open for me

to get big machines into the fields, or get my crops sprayed

or get my fertilizer on,

so I watch the weather forecast every day,

sometimes four or five times a day,

not only to see what it's going to do the next day

but, say, in four or five days' time.

Allan's going to be under a bit of pressure to get

the harvest in before the weather breaks.

Two days ago, it looked like we were going to get four dry days.

Yesterday, there seemed to be a change coming about

and this morning, we were told that there could be

very heavy rain by Friday afternoon.

We'll try to get this grain harvested

and the straw baled up and looked after

before the weather breaks.

If the breeze keeps up, and there's no dew,

we can work away, so everything going well,

a couple of days, three days,

we will have the grain safely in store

and my year's work will have reached its fulfilment.

I'm glad the weather was kind to Allan, and all farmers -

another worry over for another year.

This may look a nice, scenic path for the ordinary rambler,

but of course, it's doing something important

for the conservation of this area.

Yeah - the sole and only reason we put the boardwalk in

is to help conserve the habitat.

What was basically happening was the footfall of walkers was

eroding this rare blanket bog,

so we had to take some remedial action to protect it.

Today's quite a nice day, but it's not great for the midges, here! We're being eaten alive.

I think we need to go for a higher altitude.

Yes, I think so. Try and find a bit of breeze.

-Over halfway up - it's longer than it looks, isn't it?

-It is, indeed.

But some of the views are spectacular.

The views are certainly worth it. There's no doubt.

You're looking right across Fermanagh here,

out into Donegal, Sligo...

It's pretty breathtaking, all right.

And, what, we've got about 200-300 steps still ahead of us.

Well, we'll get there.

-So no trees?

-No, no trees, no.

Peat's not a very good growing medium,

so it's only specialised plants that can tolerate

those nutrient-poor conditions.

We're almost at the top. Oof!

'The trail across the bogland is over 7km long

'and takes us to the summit of Cuilcagh Mountain.

'But so far, it's been worth it.'

Well, here we are, Richard.

Up to the top. 660m.

It's still quite squelchy, isn't it?

And you can really tell that the rainfall

shaped this land in front of us.

Yes - it has a profound effect on the landscape around us.

And how important is the bogland and why?

Well, the bog is important in its own right,

for the biodiversity and its intrinsic environmental value,

but equally, it acts as a carbon store -

this blanket bog, and other bogs in Ireland,

are literally storing millions of tonnes of carbon.

The peat is basically vegetation which hasn't completely rotted,

so it's locked away in the bog over thousands and thousands of years,

so this really is almost playing the same role as the Amazon rainforest

in helping with climate change.

So, essentially, you don't mind Fermanagh being called

one of the wettest counties of Northern Ireland, if not Ireland?

At times - no, on my day off, I'd rather it was a bit drier,

sometimes, but what can you do?

Still, like today, the views are breathtaking.

Yes, oh, it's fabulous, it really is.

And from a breathtaking but treeless landscape

to a lush forestry,

and my pathway to the underground,

where the waters that fell on Cuilcagh bogland

have made their way to the Marble Arch Caves.

-Michelle?

-Hello, how are you?

-How are you?

God, that's some walk! Great weather for it, though, isn't it?

-Yes. Are you ready to go underground?

-I am.

-If you want to follow me, we'll head in.

-Perfect.

'Michelle's going to be my guide

'through this fascinating natural underworld of waterfalls,

'rivers, caves and winding passages.

'It's beautiful and brilliant.'

We're deeps below Fermanagh and you may be forgiven for thinking

that the weather above won't affect us, but it does.

Yes, it does. The rainwater that falls on Cuilcagh Mountain,

it's actually the catchment area for the three rivers that flow

into the Marble Arch Caves

and we're actually making our way up one of the rivers,

which is called the Cladagh Glen.

So you can imagine that the weather that we experience in Fermanagh

and, in particular, up on Cuilcagh Mountain,

has a large impact in relation to the show cave.

We're able to come comfortably through this cave,

but it all depends on the amount of rainfall

that we get above, doesn't it?

This cave tour is very much weather-dependant -

there's days where we have to opt

that we actually don't have a cave tour available.

It really depends on the blanket bog,

whether or not the blanket bog is dry or if it's saturated.

It depends if it's local rain or it has fallen at a distance,

and it also depends what the rivers are like -

if they've had a period of time where they've dried up,

or if there's water in it.

That is why the staff that work here

monitor the weather forecast on a daily basis.

You're actually going outside

and visually looking at Cuilcagh Mountain

to see if it's under cloud, if it's raining,

what you think is happening on the mountain,

because it has its own little climate.

In terms of weather, what's your perfect scenario?

SHE LAUGHS

Best-case scenario is probably the rarest situation

that we ever have, is that when we have a heat wave.

I knew you were going to say that. SHE LAUGHS

But even at the moment, you know, we've had a period,

a whole week, now, where we've had dry weather.

It's not hot, it's not sunny, but there's been no rain

up on Cuilcagh Mountain and that changes everything.

It changes the amount of water coming off the mountain.

It changes the atmosphere in the cave.

I really like it when we've had a little bit of rainwater

it's coming into the cave and the rivers are rising slightly

and you can hear the rumbling of the river,

and that's part of the experience

and the excitement for members of the public.

So people who do arrive on a rainy day,

I don't think they're losing out.

I think they're seeing it in a different way and to me,

that's what it's all about.

-Every cloud has a silver lining.

-Yes, we could say that.

LAUGHTER