The Cork woman giving farmers weather updates on Facebook
Frequently fielding calls from farmers, Cork woman Mary McCarthy has turned a childhood fascination with the weather into a keen online following.
Mary who has a loyal online following for her Facebook page, Mary's Mizen Weather, was taught by her father and late uncle Connie, to understand weather patterns by observing nature and animals. Connie was a fisherman all his life, while her father, Paddy, is a farmer and a fisherman.
Enjoying an idyllic childhood in coastal Ballydehob in west Cork, she was charged with monitoring the weather for the family.
"I just picked up a bit of knowledge along the way, but I don't have any qualification. I wouldn't be like the Donegal postman or Alan O'Reilly of Carlow Weather," she said modestly.
"My father used to work with the tankers at Whiddy, doing 12-hour shifts three days a week. He operated the pilot boat. He was sick the night of the explosion [which claimed the lives of 50 people]. When Whiddy stopped operating, he went back fishing."
Mary became a weather watcher, updating her dad and uncle when they returned to shore.
"One of the things they told me was that if there was a storm coming, I would see seagulls in a field. A broken rainbow meant bad weather and where there is a gap on a circle around the moon, say the west side, that is where the wind will be coming for the next day," she explained.
Paddy and Connie grew up on Horse Island in Roaring Water Bay and were the last to leave the island. It was there that they learned about the weather patterns of the natural world which they passed on to Mary.
During Covid, Mary started to post her weather predictions on her Facebook page in a bid to help parents plan indoor and outdoor activities for their children. There was huge interest.
"I couldn't get over it. I got loads of followers on my personal Facebook page and my son, Aidan, suggested I set up a separate Facebook page for the weather. One thing borrowed another, and here I am," she laughed.
Mary who has 1,800 followers, and is now frequently stopped in her local supermarket and asked for her weather predictions.
"One woman said her brother was on the tractor and didn't know what to do about the silage," she said.
"It's hard on farmers. I do feel sorry for them as they are under fierce pressure to get the silage in before the rain. The most common question I get is: 'Will it ever stop raining?"
She was thrilled to meet with meteorologist Joanna Donnelly when she was on a visit to Schull.
“I love interacting with people through my page," Mary, who is awake from 5am every day, posting her forecasts at 6am, said.
"I love the morning, it's the best part of the day. If you can be up and out early, you feel better. I'm addicted to nature, seeing foxes and rabbits and enjoy the connection that the page brings," she concluded.
