Hurricane Charley 1986 (56K Unfriendly)

Supercell

In 1986, when I was a mere lad, I subscribed to the Monthly Weather Bulletin from the Irish Met Office.
In August 186 they did a special suppliment to it because there was two main storm events that month, one of which was the infamous Hurricane Charley.

Given the small possibility that Hurricane Gordan *might* follow a similar path I thought some might be interested. Its pretty interesting to read it anyhow in my opinion.
In 1986 there was no fancy graphical packages and the maps were hand drawn, met men had to be artists as well as scientists in those days!













Bray 2006 ???

darkman2

I wish I witnessed that:o


Its important not to overstate this event. Severe gales, rain and flooding particularly in the south and west look likely to me. The East coast I dont think will be quite as bad, though you never know in these situations. Whilst the stongest winds will only last a short time, its the amount of rain really I think forcasters will be watching:)

Supercell

I remember it well, the flooding all over Dublin was unreal. Taking a drive around Wicklow mountain foothills was taking your life into your own hands. Everywhere was flooded, trees were down, cars wrecked it was almost like a proper Hurricane had swept through.
1980's Ireland was a far far poorer place then also, the cleanup wasn't fast and the effects lasted quite a considerable time afterwards.

sirpsycho

WOW, great post Longfield

Snowbie

Well Longfield i hope you didnt go commando back then as you were going to last night.

Remember Charley as if it where yesterday.Comparing to that storm last night,Charley was far worse with its winds and rain here in the east.
For the east last night it was just a short sharp wind storm nothing more.
My graph on my website only recorded gusts for two hours and then died down dramatically but with branches down.
Charley uprooted large trees.

shaptakster

I remember it well.
We lived on a hill in Bray and when we came out in the morning there were trees down all over the plave and everything beside the dargle was flooded.
There were oak trees from the mountains piled up against the bridge in Bray.
There were even broken boats on the sides of Bray head (at least 50 metres above see level).
That was the last time there was sand on the beach in Bray too. Charley washed it all away.

delw

Heres one to BUMP

25th anniversery

Big Daddy Cool

ah i remember this so well, i was only 8 at the time, the home place is situated close to the river boyne and oppposite a big forest and we spent most of the night standing outside the front door listening and watching the trees falling, the boyne burst its bank which was unbelievable to see at the time, ah yeah it was all very exciting for an 8 year old i can tell ya , suffice to say thanks to charlie and all the tress he knocked down, we had a very warm and cosy winter

secman

i remember it so well ,it was my 29th Birthday and couldn't go out to celebrate ! The rai was driving against the windows so hard it was getting thru, the front door had a porch and it filled with water up to the step into house, everytime a gust hit the big front window we were expecting it to come into front room ! A frightening night from my recollection.

Secman

Tom Cruises Left Nut

It uprooted a huge apple tree in my parents garden, remember it well

*shakes fist at Charlie*

maquiladora

delw wrote: »

Heres one to BUMP

25th anniversery

Wow, 25 years. I was very young at the time but I do remember it, not so much for the weather but just for the phrases I was hearing people say. For some reason the words "tail end of hurricane charley" are etched in my mind, aswell as the humour of the name ( because of charlie haughey), even though I was too young to understand that.

cscook

Oh goodness - I remember this. I was over from the UK and we were trying to get down to Redcross in Wicklow. We had to give up in the end - just as well, as the friend who was driving us got back to her place in time to see her mother being rescued by tractor as their house was flooded. I can remember the Bailey bridge near the Waterfall Gate at Powerscourt being there for a long time after, any time I was back over here.

Su Campu

I think this thread should be retitled "Ex-Hurricane Charley", as what we got was just a normal depression, albeit with enhanced moisture from Charley's remnants. A lot of people today still seem to think we got an actual hurricane, which is nigh on impossible here.

Yahew

Gusts in European Windstorms can be impressive enough. In any case Ireland did have a hurricane level storm in 1839, you are probably too young to remember.

Good article here on European windstorms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_windstorm

Su Campu

Hurricane level winds is another thing. We get plenty of deep depressions with hurricane gusts. I'm talking about an actual hurricane, as per the definition.

Yahew

A technical difference to most. But, point accepted. Charlie was not a hurricane.

snowstreams

If we had cold upper level temperatures, would it be possible for a tropical system to retain tropical (or subtropical) characteristics over ireland, because the contrast between the uppers would make our 14c water act like a tropical source?

Strangegravy

maquiladora wrote: »

delw wrote: »

Heres one to BUMP

25th anniversery

Wow, 25 years. I was very young at the time but I do remember it, not so much for the weather but just for the phrases I was hearing people say. For some reason the words "tail end of hurricane charley" are etched in my mind, aswell as the humour of the name ( because of charlie haughey), even though I was too young to understand that.

Ha, ha... I was 8 at the time and don't remember much about the actual conditions but the phrase "tail end of hurricane Charley" is etched in my memory for ever!!

DWCommuter

82 to 86, absolutely cracking years for weather events in Ireland. So glad I witnessed them.

Deep Easterly

Satellite image of 'Hurricane' Charlie taken at 0353utc 26th August 1986:


(Satellite C/O Dundee Satellite Receiving Station)

Slow moving active occlusion hovering over Ireland with low centered over Wales.

Rainfall and MSLP analysis (0000utc 26th August 1986)

(Image C/O Wetter3de)


Cetainly is easy to see how the eastern half bore the brunt on the 26th with strong to gale force northeast winds driving the worst of the rain into these regions.
(SE winds on the 25th, south bore brunt)

wil

considering the current events, I think it might be worth reviving this zombie.
I seem to recall it as one of the most destructive storms up to then and probably since, with 5 deaths in Ireland and huge number of trees down.

I know memories become distorted but it was bad enough that I remember it was the only time my dad boarded up some of our windows he thought they were going to blow in.

If anyone has any other hard stats.

Seems like it easily beat what MetEireann are describing yesterday as one of the worst storms (in whose memory?)
158kph is well below 178kph

More details I found here

ardmacha

'Hurricane' Charlie was as notable for the large amounts of rain it brought as for high winds. The likes of the Annamoe Bridge being swept away was a function of rainfall.

omicron

The really nostalgic part of this thread is the '56k unfriendly' bit in the title!!!

wil

omicron wrote: »

The really nostalgic part of this thread is the '56k unfriendly' bit in the title!!!

Ah, the DUN old days. Everyone's friends now. Except the weather