The Big Thaw 2010

zuroph

snowed more in Limerick today than any day before, loads of whitestuff everywhere.

Mobhi1

Still white everywhere; can't see the grass through the snow yet; a bit slushier though and more drips from the roof.

sparkydee

Loads of snow here in clonmel. No thaw just yet:) not as cold though

M.T. Cranium

Just posting in here because boards members may randomly look in here for this information ...

... based on latest guidance, a general thaw outside of Ulster counties can be expected (80% confidence for Munster, 60% for Leinster and Connacht) on Tuesday, and it may come fairly rapidly after a trickle of a thaw on Monday mainly in the south.

Expect all snow and ice except that on higher hills and mountains to melt rather rapidly on Tuesday, and for ice to come out of the ground by mid-day, with impacts on local drainage and ground conditions. Although this will probably be a good thing in general, some may find it affecting them adversely through ponding of meltwater or overflow of nearby streams.

You can probably prepare to some extent by having a look around and assuming that all snow in your general vicinity will melt, plus the effects of a moderately heavy rainfall (20 mms or thereabouts). If street drains are clogged by slush or snow by tomorrow afternoon, it would be a useful thing to clear the impediments away from the drains to let them carry meltwater away from your vicinity.

Ice will become more slippery at first before a full melt takes place, avoid travel in iced over rural areas on Tuesday morning in the first stages of this melting. Conditions will probably be similar to some extent in Ulster but the full effect of the thaw may be more gradual and lead to a few more days of locally icy conditions especially at higher elevations.

kleefarr

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Just posting in here because boards members may randomly look in here for this information ...

... based on latest guidance, a general thaw outside of Ulster counties can be expected (80% confidence for Munster, 60% for Leinster and Connacht) on Tuesday, and it may come fairly rapidly after a trickle of a thaw on Monday mainly in the south.

Expect all snow and ice except that on higher hills and mountains to melt rather rapidly on Tuesday, and for ice to come out of the ground by mid-day, with impacts on local drainage and ground conditions. Although this will probably be a good thing in general, some may find it affecting them adversely through ponding of meltwater or overflow of nearby streams.

You can probably prepare to some extent by having a look around and assuming that all snow in your general vicinity will melt, plus the effects of a moderately heavy rainfall (20 mms or thereabouts). If street drains are clogged by slush or snow by tomorrow afternoon, it would be a useful thing to clear the impediments away from the drains to let them carry meltwater away from your vicinity.

Ice will become more slippery at first before a full melt takes place, avoid travel in iced over rural areas on Tuesday morning in the first stages of this melting. Conditions will probably be similar to some extent in Ulster but the full effect of the thaw may be more gradual and lead to a few more days of locally icy conditions especially at higher elevations.

Thanks for that M.T. Cranium.
So it looks like I'll have my mains water back Tuesday after Midday.

M.T. Cranium

Well, I hope so. This milder turn today may be slightly reversed at some point tomorrow, so don't be too surprised if you find it snowing at some point again before the stronger thaw develops on Tuesday. As winds turn more to the southeast, they will draw on somewhat colder air over southwest England (this is all contrary to normal logic) and take a shorter sea crossing to reach Ireland, so I'm speculating that the sleet may turn back to snow later tonight or Monday morning, although it may not be all that heavy as the whole mess of precip is due to take a break before the Tuesday system arrives.

In other words, it's going to continue to be quite messy and tricky for forecasting too, not to mention the timing uncertainties on Tuesday, but I think that the milder air to come (the 6-8 C air mass) should eventually reach Dublin, it will probably be into the south coast before 0900 Tuesday but into Dublin perhaps mid-day, and it may not stick around a long time either. This is why I don't want to predict a thaw everywhere especially the higher elevations where snow is deeper and the air stays colder.

unkel

The big Freeze and snow for today must have been the worst weather forecast in a long time.

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Expect all snow and ice except that on higher hills and mountains to melt rather rapidly on Tuesday

On Tuesday? It's still Sunday and the snow has been disappearing rapidly accompanied by rain and temps of about 3 degrees since about sundown this afternoon here in Lucan. The snow will probably be gone by tomorrow.

Mc Love

Great posts MT.

I know its probably not your field, but do you think traffic will be back to normal on tuesday/tuesday evening?

Min

kleefarr wrote: »

Kilkenny City outskirts..

Temperature: 1.2 °C
Dew Point: 0.9 °C

I'm noticing a slow thaw already today. Temperature has remained above 0°C most of the day and the snow is starting to make a retreat around the edges. Have had sleety rain the last few minutes.

Anyone else experiencing a thaw?

It was snowing here recently.

Graces7

Seemingly we will be the last to thaw up here?

Certainly not a sign of any relenting yet.

Water still frozen solid throughout the house. And a bitter wind.

M.T. Cranium

Yes, you should probably ask someone else about the traffic, I don't even live in Ireland so ... I imagine as was suggested above, Dublin would lose its snow faster than most places, cities tend to utilize marginal amounts of heat much faster than other environments (they tend to get less snow to start with), but my comments were probably more for the wide expanse of snowy countryside where the melt rates will be slow today, but faster tomorrow.

I shouldn't speculate about traffic, that depends on how flooding might or might not develop, and there are plenty of people better situated to comment on that. Graces7, I hope things improve for your road by late Tuesday, but you may have to wait until Friday from the looks of things to get total clearance of the ice around there. You may just find yourself freed up by Tuesday evening perhaps, with icy conditions still present higher up, I would think. Let's keep hoping in any case.

Graces7

Thanks... the dehumidifier in the room I dont use just now cut in today which means that the temperature has risen in there! It was too cold for it to work the last two days; ditto my fridge these last weeks.

So now I need to worry re the ??burst pipe?? in the loft...
There is a drop of water on the ceiling now; wooden slats so it will drip through...

It just needs the road to clear for me. After four weeks!! FREEDOM!

I shouldn't speculate about traffic, that depends on how flooding might or might not develop, and there are plenty of people better situated to comment on that. Graces7, I hope things improve for your road by late Tuesday, but you may have to wait until Friday from the looks of things to get total clearance of the ice around there. You may just find yourself freed up by Tuesday evening perhaps, with icy conditions still present higher up, I would think. Let's keep hoping in any case.[/quote]

Badboy1977

Can the Minister decide to reverse three day school closure and open say on Wednesday? I would like to get back to work!

kleefarr

Kilkenny City outskirts...

Temperature: 1.1 °C
Dew Point: 0.8 °C

The temperature never fell below 0°C last night. The dew point also stayed above freezing.
We had some very wet sleet for a while, but this has obviously only sped up the thaw process slow where I am.
Everything that has been white for the last couple of days is now showing signs of thaw and there is slush on the roads and paths.
The little heat that there is out there obvioulsy hasn't penetrated down to the frozen mains water pipe. Not even a trickle yet. Must be patient.

Pangea

Well been sleeting /raining during the night in donegal, oh well i guess the big thaw has started , the snow moaners will soon be moaning about the floods for the other 11 months of the year :pac:

All joking aside though ,I dont think we have seen the last of the cold weather this winter. Theres a long way to go.

Badboy1977

kleefarr wrote: »

Kilkenny City outskirts...

Temperature: 1.1 °C
Dew Point: 0.8 °C

The temperature never fell below 0°C last night. The dew point also stayed above freezing.
We had some very wet sleet for a while, but this has obviously only sped up the thaw process slow where I am.
Everything that has been white for the last couple of days is now showing signs of thaw and there is slush on the roads and paths.
The little heat that there is out there obvioulsy hasn't penetrated down to the frozen mains water pipe. Not even a trickle yet. Must be patient.

Thawing snow itself can cause burst pipes-shifts the ground. Thats what the weather guy said last night. Sorry!

shiibata

Pangea wrote: »

Well been sleeting /raining during the night in donegal, oh well i guess the big thaw has started ,

Snowing this last hour now though in Donegal and no sign of it stopping yet

Graces7

Sleety and on top of rain wet ground...

May well thankfully not stick, even up here.

shiibata wrote: »

Snowing this last hour now though in Donegal and no sign of it stopping yet

shiibata

Graces7 wrote: »

Sleety and on top of rain wet ground...

May well thankfully not stick, even up here.

Not sticking, its already stuck. Was sleet about 7 this moring but over an hour now of snow

Graces7

Where are you, please?

Praying it away..

shiibata wrote: »

Not sticking, its already stuck. Was sleet about 7 this moring but over an hour now of snow

kleefarr

Badboy1977 wrote: »

Thawing snow itself can cause burst pipes-shifts the ground. Thats what the weather guy said last night. Sorry!

Ah yes, forgot about that.

Pangea

shiibata wrote: »

Snowing this last hour now though in Donegal and no sign of it stopping yet

Started snowing here now , but not gona lie even , ground is wet

mike65

Raining, was quite heavy earlier. The snow should be gone by this time tomorrow I'd say, maybe quicker depending if the clearance to sun happens in the next few hours.

kleefarr

WATER!!!!!

Just got a slow trickle from the kitchen tap and now we have full running mains!!
Flushed all toilets and turned on all taps for a minute.
Haven't been this excited since the first snow.

mike65

I await mine! I might well go out later with a kettle and dump it on the stopcock valve.

anoble66

2.2C in north tipp and thawing pretty fast...no rain

Bog Butter

Let us hope that this is not a brief thaw and it doesn't return next week!

anoble66

temp dropping again in north tipp, was 4.5c now dropping to 3.7

Our man in Havana

Thaw is in full swing here now.

kleefarr

Kilkenny City outskirts..

Temperature: 1.9 °C
Dew Point: 1.6 °C

Just had a few minutes of snow, big flakes, but it's now turned to rain. Wasn't going to settle anyway, far too wet.