WINTER 2005/6 - A Review

Danno

Discuss.

Danno

WINTER 2005 STATISTICS (December 2005, January 2006, February 2006)

Birr Station:
Rainfall: 129.0mm (Average 208.2mm) 79.2mm below average
Temperature: 5.36c (Average 4.93c) 0.43c above average

Kilkenny Station:
Rainfall: 121.4mm (Average 240.7mm) 119.3mm below average
Temperature: 4.96c (Average 4.90c) 0.06c above average

Source: http://www.met.ie/recentweather/monthlydata.asp

Makes interesting reading.

ninebeanrows

a dreadful and boring winter...

December and January were total write offs while November brought a
taste of what we thought was the big thing! February was a month
where we tried and tried to get that easterly but to no avail and ended
up with a fairly decent cold spell which we are finishing now..

Very disappointing but this cold was not the problem it was the months
that went before:rolleyes:

Gonzo

yep a bitterly dissapointing winter all round yet again I think. 2006/2007 can only be better

Snowbie

Our only chance of getting a bitterely cold winter with lots of snow is
1.Move to north of scotland ie:Aberdeen/Inverness:cool:
2.Atlantic conveyor shuts down:D
3.The continental plate Ireland is on moves further north faster than 3 inches a year.:rolleyes:
4.Nucleur winter:eek:
5.Meteor/comet hitting the Earth,throwing up debris blocking out the sun:)
6.Sallys gap in Dublin mtns:rolleyes:
7.PRAY:D
lol

Scubadevils

It was a very disappointing winter in terms of snow but as already mentioned, the British met did get it spot on. It was certainly cooler/colder than last winter all round and we were just unfortunate to have not had the right synoptics for snow. In saying that, we were close to something big several times but it just didnt quite make it. Last winter was better in terms of frequent short lived Northerlys and then a tame easterly towards the end. I think we are definitely moving towards colder winters and I'd say this will become more evident next year.

I genuinely believe that next winter will deliver for us and I am normally one of the more negative posters here! Lets wait and see and in the meantime heres to a long hot summer with a few good thunder storms thrown in

Snowbie

Felixdhc wrote:

It was a very disappointing winter in terms of snow but as already mentioned, the British met did get it spot on. It was certainly cooler/colder than last winter all round and we were just unfortunate to have not had the right synoptics for snow. In saying that, we were close to something big several times but it just didnt quite make it. Last winter was better in terms of frequent short lived Northerlys and then a tame easterly towards the end. I think we are definitely moving towards colder winters and I'd say this will become more evident next year.

I genuinely believe that next winter will deliver for us and I am normally one of the more negative posters here! Lets wait and see and in the meantime heres to a long hot summer with a few good thunder storms thrown in

I dont know if you have experienced the 70s 80s and 90s for snow?
But i tell everyone this that snow was a regular friend of mine,nearly getting bored wit it NOT,so much so that from mid october it was getting frosty and by late november you had a couple of centimeters,dont leave the house come January as Easterlies,well what can you say were much colder!!!,
i am not a negative person,love the snow,love the cold but sorry it is not like it use to be.Yes i have recorded my lowest ever temp for the last three nights than in the last 3 years,but come on one week of cold weather compared to 4 months in the 70s and 80s,there is a slight difference:rolleyes:

Two Words


Global Warming

Scubadevils

I did thankfully experience the 80s and also the late 70s. Yes, there were frequent snow events to enjoy but to remember EVERY winter as being that way is totally wrong and romantic to say the least. We did not have 4 months of cold weather straight through back then either. Again, the cold did last longer and was certainly colder but there were mild periods in between with lots of rain etc. From what you are saying we had ice age conditions all winter - far from it. Global Warming is of course possible but I also subscribe to the possibility that we go through periods of warming and cooling and whos to say we are not now entering a cooling period? Couple that with global warming (if it exists) and maybe our cooling period may not be as cold as the last. Thats my two cents, and its not based on any scientific fact or weather expertise, just plain old life experience.

dloob

A disappointing winter in Galway snow wise.
The November cold spell didn't deliver anything here and the current one hasn't resulted in much either.
On the plus side it did seem to be a drier winter than usual. In late Jaunary there was a good dry sunny period that lasted a week or two.
Hope the summer will be a good one.

Gonzo

I cant remember the 70s, I was too young but I do remember from about 82 onwards, of course 82 being a special Winter. I also remember getting very decent dumpings in 84,85,86,87,89,90 & finally 91. Winters were far better back then but I also remember Summers being wetter and generally cooler except for summer 90 and 91 I think they were very hot. Over the past 4 years it seems we are not getting nearly as much frequent rain as we used to.. its just far more spread out but when it pours it really pours...

Snowbie

Felixdhc wrote:

I did thankfully experience the 80s and also the late 70s. Yes, there were frequent snow events to enjoy but to remember EVERY winter as being that way is totally wrong and romantic to say the least. We did not have 4 months of cold weather straight through back then either. Again, the cold did last longer and was certainly colder but there were mild periods in between with lots of rain etc. From what you are saying we had ice age conditions all winter - far from it. Global Warming is of course possible but I also subscribe to the possibility that we go through periods of warming and cooling and whos to say we are not now entering a cooling period? Couple that with global warming (if it exists) and maybe our cooling period may not be as cold as the last. Thats my two cents, and its not based on any scientific fact or weather expertise, just plain old life experience.

No but it wasnt back to back cold,im not describing it was,nor was it an mini ice age,but compare today to back then and yes sub zero temps all day round for 9 days in 1982,jan 8th onwards to be precise and then 87,two polar lows with the second one parking itself in the Irish sea dumped 15cm right here on the coast,sounds impressive,91 was better when 3 snow events happened,then march 1st 2001 when the last time we seen a decent polar low and snowed all day with 8cm falling,nothing since sounds like a warming trend not cooling to me over all.

You cannot forsee next winter,not with decreased sunspot activity,solar activity,or pure guessing,we are moving into a heating trend as a whole.We just get spontaneous snow events,which are rare now.

WHO is to say we will have cold winters next year or the year after that,no one knows,that was meant to be a bitter winter???,ok colder than last year but nothing happened this year either,UK scotland wales all got there snow even though the Scots temp was avg.

Its all to do with Geography,last week for eg.Northerlys will shower the north as usual and we can only expect rouges.Our easterlies are now passing over warmer Irish sea which is tending to keep the temp up and the precip tends to fall as sleet/rain,and thats a full blown Easterly scandanavian blocking high steering in the siberian cold.The cold aint there any more,not like it use to be.

lucernarian

In terms of snow this season was worse than last year. But I think there is a trend moving back down to cooler winters. We had the coldest night time temp recorded in Ireland in 10 years during the week. We had snow in November.

Last year was better though because there was a covering of snow for Christmas and we got nearly 2 inches out of an easterly. The easterlies were pathetic but a northerly lasting a week is not a common event.

And serious kudos must go to the Met Office in the UK for an excellent LRF.

Mothman

To_be_confirmed wrote:

We had the coldest night time temp recorded in Ireland in 10 years during the week.

For air temp, that is so untrue, it's laughable.
For grass min, it is close to being true.

In brief, -14.0C AIR TEMP was recorded in Co. Mayo 29th Dec 2000

Most stations recorded lower temps in March 2001 than in recent days. Grass temps were certainly lower at Birr this month than in 2001, but not anywhere else.

-9.0C air temp was recorded at Casement in March 2001, the lowest air temp in recent days was -7.8C at Birr the same min as in 2001 at the station.

ninebeanrows

Since when is winter over??

Gonzo

^^
ive seen really good snow back in the good old days as late as mid April so anything can happen really.

lucernarian

Mothman wrote:

For air temp, that is so untrue, it's laughable.
For grass min, it is close to being true.

In brief, -14.0C AIR TEMP was recorded in Co. Mayo 29th Dec 2000

Most stations recorded lower temps in March 2001 than in recent days. Grass temps were certainly lower at Birr this month than in 2001, but not anywhere else.

-9.0C air temp was recorded at Casement in March 2001, the lowest air temp in recent days was -7.8C at Birr the same min as in 2001 at the station.

Oh right then. I was basically regurgitating what I heard on the media:o . That's what I heard RTÉ claim Met Éireann said.

Mothman

To_be_confirmed wrote:

Oh right then. I was basically regurgitating what I heard on the media:o . That's what I heard RTÉ claim Met Éireann said.

I didn't make it clear that I knew where you were quoting from.
I'm quite annoyed that Met Eireann would give out such bull. The media certainly made the most of it, though technically speaking the grass temps were near enough the coldest in a decade......but only at Birr...:rolleyes:

I don't want to take away from the fact that it was very cold for March, just not unprecedented.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Scubadevils

Snowbie wrote:

No but it wasnt back to back cold,im not describing it was,nor was it an mini ice age,but compare today to back then and yes sub zero temps all day round for 9 days in 1982,jan 8th onwards to be precise and then 87,two polar lows with the second one parking itself in the Irish sea dumped 15cm right here on the coast,sounds impressive,91 was better when 3 snow events happened,then march 1st 2001 when the last time we seen a decent polar low and snowed all day with 8cm falling,nothing since sounds like a warming trend not cooling to me over all.

You cannot forsee next winter,not with decreased sunspot activity,solar activity,or pure guessing,we are moving into a heating trend as a whole.We just get spontaneous snow events,which are rare now.

WHO is to say we will have cold winters next year or the year after that,no one knows,that was meant to be a bitter winter???,ok colder than last year but nothing happened this year either,UK scotland wales all got there snow even though the Scots temp was avg.

Its all to do with Geography,last week for eg.Northerlys will shower the north as usual and we can only expect rouges.Our easterlies are now passing over warmer Irish sea which is tending to keep the temp up and the precip tends to fall as sleet/rain,and thats a full blown Easterly scandanavian blocking high steering in the siberian cold.The cold aint there any more,not like it use to be.

Having just got back from 3 days in Hamburg, I probably agree with you now! Although I really would have thought this winter and last winter certainly moved towards a colder trend. I know 2 years cant be counted as a trend but whos to say next winter wont deliver more and the trend then continues? As far as I'm concerned nobody knows what way its going go, but I wouldnt rule out it getting colder simply because the last 10 years have been milder. History has shown there have been warmer, cooler and colder periods, I just hope that we are now going back to a colder (or even cooler ) trend.