Winter 2011/2012

jjspine

MEAN wrote: »

nope the 1st of spring is 1st of feb

If I throw a stick will you leave?

Deep Easterly

Monthly mean temperature at Valentia & Mullingar:



Statistically, the 3 coldest months of the year are December, January and February in Ireland, which is why these months are classed as being the 'meteorological winter'

Could never understand why the 1st of Feb would be considered the start of spring, even in 'pagan' times as this is usually the coldest time of year!

davidsr20

It's amazing how quiet the weather treads are gone today

NIALL D

davidsr20 wrote: »

It's amazing how quiet the weather treads are gone today

fact , its very quiet twards , say mon to thursday !!!

davidsr20

NIALL D wrote: »

fact , its very quiet twards , say mon to thursday !!!

Or maybe it's the lack of snow

NIALL D

davidsr20 wrote: »

Or maybe it's the lack of snow

well yeah thats wat i mean, all the snow durin last week , the place was mad busy !!!


roads are savage bad out , great fun in a bmw though :)

derekon

MEAN wrote: »

nope the 1st of spring is 1st of feb

Niall D is correct - the meteorological winter in Ireland is from December to February. You are not really going to state that November in Ireland is colder than February, are you?

If so, you ain't gonna win!!

D

Deep Easterly

derekon wrote: »

Niall D is correct - the meteorological winter in Ireland is from December to February. You are not really going to state that November in Ireland is colder than February, are you?

If so, you ain't gonna win!!

D

Well, in fairness, November 2010 was colder than February 2011, by around 1.5c:

http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-data.asp

An exception rather than the rule though.

Trotter

Sorry for the newbie question but Im trying to make sense of the blocking that a few people have mentioned is/could be developing far north of us.
Am I right in saying that could cause easterly or northerly winds for us later in January?

How would that happen? (If I havent got it completely backwards?)

Wild Bill

At this stage I'm inclined to give up on a "winter" in 2011/12 :mad:

thetonynator

Wild Bill wrote: »

At this stage I'm inclined to give up on a "winter" in 2011/12 :mad:

And what are you calling the last 2-3 weeks of well below average temps for December?

Irish winters aren't like last December, they're like our current conditions if we're lucky. If not they're incessant south westerlies.

47, 63, 79, 82, 09-10 and Dec 10 aren't normal, they're exceptions.

nacho libre

Wild Bill wrote: »

At this stage I'm inclined to give up on a "winter" in 2011/12 :mad:

How dare you display such a lack of faith in the snow gods. :mad: :pac:

nacho libre

Trotter wrote: »

Sorry for the newbie question but Im trying to make sense of the blocking that a few people have mentioned is/could be developing far north of us.
Am I right in saying that could cause easterly or northerly winds for us later in January?

How would that happen? (If I havent got it completely backwards?)

Yes you have it right. Blocking means a strong area of high pressure, which results in our usual west - east flow, which bring milder and moist weather to our shores, being blocked, meaning colder air can filter down over us either from the north or north east or east, depending on the exact position of the blocking high.

here's a better and more detailed explanation
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/blocking/

Pangea

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Could never understand why the 1st of Feb would be considered the start of spring, even in 'pagan' times as this is usually the coldest time of year!

Well things start to spring up in February eg. Daffodils, lambs usually start being born around then. Thats just a few reasons why it might of been called spring.
Also I would guess that November has more shorter days than February in total as it is closer to the Winter Solstice. Would need someone to do calculations on that though and the difference probably wouldn't be much.
For me November will always be winter, but since I become interested in Meteorology I'l add February to that aswell. Four month winter and everyone wins :pac:

Madpaddy79

@ MT

When you envisage cold for jan or feb, perhaps both, do you have an indication of a temperature range that could be experienced at this point?

Deep Easterly

Pangea wrote: »

Well things start to spring up in February eg. Daffodils, lambs usually start being born around then. Thats just a few reasons why it might of been called spring.
Also I would guess that November has more shorter days than February in total as it is closer to the Winter Solstice. Would need someone to do calculations on that though and the difference probably wouldn't be much.
For me November will always be winter, but since I become interested in Meteorology I'l add February to that aswell. Four month winter and everyone wins :pac:

I don't know much about daffodils but I have heard stories of them appearing in January as well during mild spells; whether this is true or not I don't know. The days are slightly longer in February that they would be in November alright
http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/claremorris.html
but despite this, I never found February to be a particularly springlike month in terms of weather and temperature at least. and I would almost include March in that statement as well.

Tindie

just woke up to a dusting of snow most of time it snow 1 week before the xmas

IrishHomer

Tindie wrote: »

just woke up to a dusting of snow most of time it snow 1 week before the xmas

Wow I wonder where you are talking about?

NIALL D

ooo why cant people put in there location under there user name :mad:
or at least say where they are !!! ye could be in poland or somewhere for all we know !!

nerrad1983

Even Google want it to snow:D

Type "Let it snow" in to Google and see what happens

tylercollins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ksiUB6DneI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a5dEAjB4PY

ninebeanrows

Yep, outlook looking rather grim at the moment

Although has to be said we managed to scrape a rather cold first 20 days of December out of what could have been a very mild period.

goosey93

The AO looks to have gone negative judging by some of the charts??

mcriot29

Ao will not be neg for next two weeks ,
Also it needs to drop at least to - 2 for a few days for us to see any good cold air reach us. If it drops for 3 days and then goes back up it wont do much for us , also we need a neg NAO.

seanknowsall

Emmm, very strange the double standards that operate on this site. I was BANNED for a day last week because I said I didnt believe the predicted armageddon storm of the century was going to hit Ireland... I didnt insult anyone, offend anyone, mention anyone, use inappropriate language... but I was banned because I was "upsetting people by posting negative thoughts and not backing up my argument"... I accept the not backing up my argument, fair enough. Funny I have read several posts on this topic that are general and wide sweeping statements and no reasons are given to back them up. Just thought I would mention it... now let me see whats the odds on me getting a further ban???

Wild Bill

thetonynator wrote: »

47, 63, 79, 82, 09-10 and Dec 10 aren't normal, they're exceptions.

That's what I said - we normally don't have winters. Just dark drizzly episodes punctuated by Christmas.

:cool:

WolfeIRE

A walker has died after getting caught in an avalanche and falling 500ft down a mountain in Snowdonia.

The unidentified man, who was believed to be in his 30s, fell on Y Garn - a peak more than 3,000ft high in north Wales.
He is thought to have met two female students at the summit and discussed the best way down, Chris Lloyd of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue said.
But they made the mistake of walking along a large cornice of overhanging snow, which they thought was solid ground.


http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16132832

thetonynator

Wild Bill wrote: »

That's what I said - we normally don't have winters. Just dark drizzly episodes punctuated by Christmas.

:cool:

No, we do have winters, it's just some people are convinced that it's not winter unless it's snowing.

johngalway

WolfeIRE wrote: »

A walker has died after getting caught in an avalanche and falling 500ft down a mountain in Snowdonia.

The unidentified man, who was believed to be in his 30s, fell on Y Garn - a peak more than 3,000ft high in north Wales.
He is thought to have met two female students at the summit and discussed the best way down, Chris Lloyd of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue said.
But they made the mistake of walking along a large cornice of overhanging snow, which they thought was solid ground.


http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16132832

I just Googled snow cornice, it's surprising to see the images with explanations of how much can actually give way. They're a lot more dangerous and misleading deceptive than I would have thought!

Wild Bill

thetonynator wrote: »

No, we do have winters, it's just some people are convinced that it's not winter unless it's snowing.

Number me amongst them. :cool: