February brought a series of storms that battered the country with high winds and heavy rain. In places the amount of precipitation reached amounts of over 300%. Winds gusted to over 130km/h and maintained average speeds of around 100km/h. While Ireland has always been exposed to Atlantic depressions the strength and frequency of these events seems to have increased over the past decade. Especially the early months of the year seem to bring unusual weather events pretty much every year now. A scene like this has been called "unprecedented" and "first time in living memory" in 2014. On the 11. February, when this image was made, it was the second time since 2014 I witnessed waves crashing over Loop Head's 30 meter cliffs and still some people claim climate change isn't real.
Carsten Krieger, February 2020