Why is Doooooooooooblin so windy??

Deep Easterly

Is it possible that someone could shed some light?

I will tell my story. I have been monitoring the mean windspeed of the main synopitc stations over the last couple of months as you may know for the Analysis threads. What is striking, is that Dublin and Casement regularly report much higher windspeed than say Shannon and Claremorris, even during a westerly. The strangest thing I have found though, is that when a rare easterly blows, then Claremorris will report a higher mean daily windspeed than Dublin or Casement. In fact, this month alone, Both Dublin and Casement's mean windspeed since the 1st are running about 4 knots higher than stations in the west. Strange given that the mean wind direction since that date is South Westerly.

Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here.:pac::pac::pac:

Cheers in advance.

Danno

The Wicklow Mountains cause the airflow to flow faster around it, Dublin is right in that path. Also, the central plain of Ireland gives a vast open space with no obstructions.

Down here in my part of the world, the wind is quite weak due to the hills around here.

Deep Easterly

Cheers Daniel. I have a problem with some points though. While Dublin is exposed to the central plain, Claremorris is equally exposed to the SW wind, (consider the Atlantic). And why would stations in the west such as Shannon and Claremorris report higher windspeeds during a standard easterly, when Dublin Airport is utterly exposed to what would be the brunt of this wind. I am still baffled.

Snowbie

The surface of the Earth exerts a frictional drag on the air blowing just above it. This friction can act to change the wind's direction and slow it down -- keeping it from blowing as fast as the wind aloft. Actually, the difference in terrain conditions directly affects how much friction is exerted. For example, a calm ocean surface is pretty smooth, so the wind blowing over it does not move up, down, and around any features. By contrast, hills and forests force the wind to slow down and/or change direction much more.

What this means Pat, when wind blows over land the friction changes the wind direction and speed, buckles and slows it down basically. But Dublin in a westerly can have winds swing into an onshore direction in the less stormy conditions with wind speed increasing coming from a frictionless sea thus bringing up the mean speed. This is usually hard to observe in most cases and is one reason coastal areas are windier than inland locations.

West is more hilly than the east creating more friction while Dublin exposed to the plains in the midlands creating less of friction which can alter from geostrophic wind conditions.

With Casement, Dan is right in a way but i be more inclined to sway towards the funneling affect which can be created between mtn/hill valleys when the wind is forced into a valley like a mini Mistral wind or katabatic wind and winds speeds increase. Difference of pressure is created also affecting wind at surface.

The opposite can be true in an easterly as you mentioned with Shannon and Claremorris seeing higher means but not too certain about that due to less knowledge of them areas and a bit further inland.

Not entirely gospel but can be one explantion to this affect.
Hope this helps a bit.

Deep Easterly

Snowbie wrote: »

What this means Pat, when wind blows over land the friction changes the wind direction and speed, buckles and slows it down basically. But Dublin in a westerly can have winds swing into an onshore direction in the less stormy conditions with wind speed increasing coming from a frictionless sea thus bringing up the mean speed. This is usually hard to observe in most cases and is one reason coastal areas are windier than inland locations.

West is more hilly than the east creating more friction while Dublin exposed to the plains in the midlands creating less of friction which can alter from geostrophic wind conditions.

With Casement, Dan is right in a way but i be more inclined to sway towards the funneling affect which can be created between mtn/hill valleys when the wind is forced into a valley like a mini Mistral wind or katabatic wind and winds speeds increase. Difference of pressure is created also affecting wind at surface.

The opposite can be true in an easterly as you mentioned with Shannon and Claremorris seeing higher means but not too certain about that due to less knowledge of them areas and a bit further inland.

Not entirely gospel but can be one explantion to this affect.
Hope this helps a bit.

That seems like a valid explantaion Karl, thanks! When I think of it, one thing I have noticed about the east wind when it blows is that its strength is more sustained, rather than coming in gusts as during more westerly types, so I suppose this would effect mean readings over time. So the opposite is probably true for Dublin area.

All the same, isn't the geography of Ireland very complicated for its size though. So many influences over such a small area. Guess that is one of the things we love about it.

Danno

True Pat, Ireland has many many Micro Climates.

lostexpectation

is there an micro climates of ireland map available?

Danno

A map - now that would be interesting!

Deep Easterly

Danno wrote: »

A map - now that would be interesting!

Well I was browsing and I just happened upon this:



It seems to coincide very much with reports from around the country here on Boards.ie.

Must be a coincidence...

Mr Benevolent

Brilliant! Dublin's climate is bang on target

Snowbie

Oh ever so true with Dublin's and also Tuam i see

Danno

Laois gets the "Not Bad" category! LOLLERS!