Sudden thaw - great & final miracle of 2010

jprboy

Interesting piece by Kevin Myers in the Irish Independent today (Tue Jan 4) on the sudden thaw which occurred after Christmas.

He opines that "What happened in that miraculous period was probably one of the greatest energy transferences in Ireland of recent decades".

Some other noteworthy opinions in there too.

Full article can be found here:

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-sudden-thaw-was-the-great-and-final-miracle-of-2010-2482237.html

Anyone care to agree with or debunk any of what he states?

123balltv

What can we say God loves the Irish he throws a lot of miracles at us:)

H2UMrsRobinson

Interesting point - don't know about the science bit, but it never occurred to me to be as interested in the retreat of snow as I am the onset.

rccaulfield

Myers has too little time to think he talks so much sometimes, that article is case in point! Silly is the word!

rc28

Myers is not worth the ad revenue the Independent gets by people clicking that link :rolleyes:

4Sheets

I was in Sligo for that period..I certainly wouldnt call it a sudden thaw.. gradual is the term springing to mind..maybe things happened differently in Dublin...anyway hardly a newsworthy event.

thetonynator

Read the article in the paper today, there are so many things wrong with it. Like the fact that the whole country wasn't covered in snow, and he even got the date of the thaw wrong . .:rolleyes:

dring

thetonynator wrote: »

Read the article in the paper today, there are so many things wrong with it. Like the fact that the whole country wasn't covered in snow, and he even got the date of the thaw wrong . .:rolleyes:

Not one of his fans by any means but he isn't that far wrong, if you go to http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/ then click on Dublin which is listed under cities and then on the left click on history you will see that the maximum temp on Tues 28th was 12C, under that graph you can click on minimum and for Sunday 26th it was -12 which I think was in the early hours, so it was a little over 48 hour turnaround. This sat pic shows the fullest extent of the snow on Dec. 22nd although it did snow in Dublin almost all day on the 23rd. http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=97 Looks like only the Waterford and Cork coastlines escaped although Clare seems to have got off lightly.

desolate sun

He mentions in the article that the colder it is, the less wind there is. Is this true and why so?
I did notice during the last 2 freezes when temps plummeted to minus double figures that there wasn't much of a wind chill (thankfully!). And I live near the Atlantic. In fact I would say it feels colder on a windy (normal) winter day than a big freeze day.

thetonynator

dring wrote: »

Not one of his fans by any means but he isn't that far wrong, if you go to http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/ then click on Dublin which is listed under cities and then on the left click on history you will see that the maximum temp on Tues 28th was 12C, under that graph you can click on minimum and for Sunday 26th it was -12 which I think was in the early hours, so it was a little over 48 hour turnaround. This sat pic shows the fullest extent of the snow on Dec. 22nd although it did snow in Dublin almost all day on the 23rd.

But there wasn't the depth of snow left at all by the 27th, and if you look at that map, much of the country that looks white had only a cm or so of snow. Myers really looked at it from a Dublin perspective, so while the thaw was fast, it wasn't the miracle he was going on about. A south westerly wind is always going to that any snow lying.

Danno

desolate sun wrote: »

He mentions in the article that the colder it is, the less wind there is.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1345233/Its-use-waiting-turbines-warm-snow-returns.html

Another Green Solution to all our woes... :rolleyes:

irishdub14

123balltv wrote: »

What can we say God loves the Irish he throws a lot of miracles at us:)

What? Numerous famines, a crap economy/weather and Sepp Blatter? :rolleyes::D

Ash.J.Williams

thetonynator wrote: »

But there wasn't the depth of snow left at all by the 27th, and if you look at that map, much of the country that looks white had only a cm or so of snow. Myers really looked at it from a Dublin perspective, so while the thaw was fast, it wasn't the miracle he was going on about. A south westerly wind is always going to that any snow lying.

I doubt myers would have a dublin perspective on this at all considering he was snowed in ..in kildare.

Mc Love

Independent is tabloid at best - wouldnt pay any attention to Myers

Ash.J.Williams

Mc Love wrote: »

Independent is tabloid at best - wouldnt pay any attention to Myers

It seems to be the most widely quoted paper on this site, yet the most ridiculed.

Danno

I really think the miracle is on page 16 here... http://www.met.ie/climate/monthlyBulletins/oct10_lores.pdf where 14 all-time low temperature records were broken and one more was tied. But of course they won't be shouting this from the rooftops just in case the general Joe Public objects to handing over the carbon tax. Shiver on Ireland, shiver on...