Americans are often surprised at how far north Ireland is — it's on the same latitude as Newfoundland. In the summer, daylight can last for eighteen hours; in the winter, nights are long and days are very short.

But even though Ireland lies far to the north, its climate is quite mild. The Gulf Stream current in the Atlantic moderates the weather, preventing extremes of either heat or cold. It seldom freezes in winter and snows very little. Summer temperatures are pleasantly warm but very rarely hot. Within this moderate range, though, temperatures can be unpredictable; sometimes it is terribly cold in July or quite warm in January.

What is predictable is rain. Ireland gets a lot of rain. Some regions, such as County Kerry in the southwest, enjoy up to 270 rainy days a year. The prevailing winds come from the southwest, picking up rain clouds in the Atlantic and then dumping them on the island. All this rain makes Ireland a paradise for green growing things — hence its nickname, the Emerald Isle.