Snow.. A childhood memory

Trotter

I remember when I was around 14 or 15 ('95/'96 ish?) looking out the second story window of my Grandparents house looking at the snow lashing down past the glow of the streetlight. I must have stayed there for 2 hours.

Im actually afraid that such a vision will have to be a memory though. With the increase in temperatures we've seen, Im actually sad that I have so few snow memories to call on!

Without getting into the details of forecasting, does anyone here believe that the days of good thick heavy "christmassy" snow in the South East of Ireland are gone for good?

arctictree

Trotter wrote: »

I remember when I was around 14 or 15 ('95/'96 ish?) looking out the second story window of my Grandparents house looking at the snow lashing down past the glow of the streetlight. I must have stayed there for 2 hours.

Im actually afraid that such a vision will have to be a memory though. With the increase in temperatures we've seen, Im actually sad that I have so few snow memories to call on!

Without getting into the details of forecasting, does anyone here believe that the days of good thick heavy "christmassy" snow in the South East of Ireland are gone for good?

Trotter - we have snow nearly every year somewhere in eastern Ireland. Sometimes its only on high ground and sometimes its showers that only hit certain areas. See the weather pictures thread in this forum for proof!

A

Supercell

Marginal areas such as the south will loose it first though.
Snow in Ireland is so often a very borderline event - one degree either way is enough to negate the chances.

Mothman posted his temperature stats in another tread recently and its clear to see that since he's been recording (1999 IIRC) the average December temp has risen in an almost perfect linear fashion by close to 1°. Doesn't sound like much, but in winter that's the difference between snow and sleet , and lying or not.

Just last year myself and Arctictree has a wonderful (to my mind!) snow event with snow falling and settling to around four inches here (and far more a little higher up) for almost two days solid, whereas a few miles away towards the coast and a little lower down nothing stuck at all, yet here was a winter wonderland.

That said, the past is another country, and we aren't there now, so who knows what the future holds? Its possible we just have had a run of warm winters and things will be going back to the way they were...

Even if the warming is AGW, that doesn't mean there will never be a proper cold winters again, they just will become maybe a 1 in 20 year occurrence rather than a 1 in 5 like the eighties might have been.

In short, don;t throw in the towel just yet, unless yer in yer 90's , ye'll probably have a few more snowy winters in ya yet!

SpitfireIV

Trotter wrote: »

I remember when I was around 14 or 15 ('95/'96 ish?) looking out the second story window of my Grandparents house looking at the snow lashing down past the glow of the streetlight. I must have stayed there for 2 hours.

That was probably February of 95, the last decent snowfall I ever seen, in Carlow town anyway. It actually lasted a couple of days if I remember right, started snowing on a Friday evening/night, Saturday being the 'snow day' and Sunday being the 'thaw day' :rolleyes:. I even had the pleasure of experiencing a thundery downpour of snow that day!!

A pic of that event:

BigCon

It's coming in late January, I feel it in my bones!
We are overdue a decent snowfall where most of the country is affected, it will happen sooner or later.
It's not a decent snowfall unless the grass si completely covered up...

SpitfireIV

BigCon wrote: »

It's coming in late January, I feel it in my bones!

I think the birds know something we dont as well!! Odd, they do be singing away at 3, 4, 5am as if it were Spring!! Its a sign!

Trotter

I think moving to Wicklow just for those 2 or 3 days a year is a good idea, but highly likely to be knocked by she who must be obeyed.


I'm not that far from Dunmore East harbour in Waterford so that might explain why I always see the snow on TV and not on the ground.

I hope to see it some day! I doubt we'll see it again this year.. the trends just seem too warm!

I can sum up the snow watchers feelings on this forum from my couple of years of watching it closely here in 4 words...

oh.. ooohh... ohhhhhhhhh..... awwwwwwww...

arctictree

Snow, late February 2001, Roundwood, Wicklow:



Need I say more?

A

Supercell

Stop showing off Arctictree !
Some more like it would be very welcome this week

SpitfireIV

Wasnt there lying snow on new years eve night/new years day of..........emmm........97, or 98? That memory just came back to me, odd :rolleyes:

EDIT: It appears to have been 2000?, some snow coverage!

Takeshi_Kovacs

CroppyBoy1798 wrote: »

Wasnt there lying snow on new years eve night/new years day of..........emmm........97, or 98? That memory just came back to me, odd :rolleyes:

EDIT: It appears to have been 2000?, some snow coverage!

Nice picture, interesting to see how North Kerry got very little to no snow, whereas coastal areas of Galway got a lot (judging by that pic).

Supercell

Imagine how you would feel if you lived in an area that didn't get snow even during those optimal conditions!
Looks like some areas of Meath/Westmeath and Kildare missed out also too but thats not likely to be repeated - the coastal areas in the south without are though.,

rc28

Longfield wrote: »

Imagine how you would feel if you lived in an area that didn't get snow even during those optimal conditions!
Looks like some areas of Meath/Westmeath and Kildare missed out also too but thats not likely to be repeated - the coastal areas in the south without are though.,

In 2000 after xmas (pictured) Meath got tons of snow, the patches without much snow look to be too far south to be meath/kildare.

dloob

I remember the 2000 event I'd just started working in Galway. The city did indeed get a covering that time.

darkman2

In Dec/Jan 2000/2001 we had snow on the ground for three days with a few snow showers mostly in the evning and at night. Sun glaring down on it - it did not melt one bit. It was real snow. The dry dusty type. Then in Febuary i decided to go skiing in Finland and guess what? A snow strom hits Ireland when I do:mad:

nacho libre

last year we had 13 hours of heavy snow. the pity was the dewpoint was too high for most of it to stick. 13 hours of snow and only a inch on the ground to show for it.

the last snow event i can recall with significant accumulations was in the late nineties or early 2000.

My family moved to Listowel, Co. Kerry in July 1996. Our first winter there yielded a pretty impressive snowfall in January 1997 but it hasn't happened since.

gurramok

So when was the last significant prolonged snow type blizzardly conditions then?(talking about Dub for example)...i think it was '95?
I do remember as far back as '82 how my street was full of it with snow fights everywhere, it was a great time.
I also remember that one in '95 i think as one poster said which was blizzard mad a few times which stuck for a few days and another in around the millenium which stuck for about a couple of days.(2001 one was a decent affair, nothing special though but was fun cycling to work in it!)

Pity last year was only snow showers that didn't stick.

Do we have a chronological chart of dates of when snow actually fell and stuck to remind us of the good times?

I remember it snowing in JUNE 1975, one of the crappiest summers ever followed by the hottest & dryest.

tom1975

Karsini wrote: »

My family moved to Listowel, Co. Kerry in July 1996. Our first winter there yielded a pretty impressive snowfall in January 1997 but it hasn't happened since.

Yes, I have vivid memories of that snow from Jan 97 as I lived in Tralee then where snow is such a rarity. It was a complete whiteout and lasted for a week.