Which snow set-ups favour each region?

Rebelbrowser

Thought this might be a timely thread and perhaps even a reference point for future events.

What got me thinking is the way Waterford struck white gold yesterday, and in November 2010, but completely missed out in Jan 2010 and later in Dec 2010 when, for example, next door here in Cork it was the exact opposite for all 4 events? Its more subtle than saying some set-ups were easterlies and others were northerlies as I know in Cork we've done well from both set ups at times historically. Moreover, the fact that Waterford got lying snow yesterday (I'm only counting lying snow as I think everywhere got blowing snow yesterday) whilst Dublin didn't (and both did v well in Nov 2010) again shows there are different types of easterlies.

Whilst I'm opening this thread I'm afraid I'm doing it in the hope of eliciting contributions from the more knowledgeable posters - I am not that soldier I'm afraid. Still, just to kick start things, from my own ill-informed but enthusiastic monitoring of Cork weather I would say as follows:-

Cork - Can get snow from a North westerly outbreak (eg. 2 minor falls in Jan and Feb 2013, our decent fall in Dec 2010 also came from the northwest down through Clare and Limerick but that was a northerly outbreak I think it is fair to say?), Northerly (harder for us but can work out if a low pressure moves up from the south and mixes with a cold northerly regime eg. Jan 2010 was an example of this I think) and an Easterly (eg. 1987 - still my personal favourite, 1991 and even lots of snow yesterday but not lying). I think however Cork doesn't really get streamers (too far "inland" for NE streamers and even though we have nowt but sea to our east (as the southern cost runs ne to sw) we never seem to get eastern or south eastern streamers coming ashore here (they always seem to need to come through Waterford - WHO IN THOSE SCENARIOS STEAL ALL OF THE SNOW THE GREEDY BASTARDS). Subject to correction I think that even Cork's snow in 1987 and 1991 would not have been from streamers but from low pressure that moved up from a se direction over Cornwall. Lastly Cork can theoretically get plastered from an Atlantic front undercutting an Easterly, think this happened in 1917 and 1947 to leave mega snow. I've never seen a full on version of this happen (though ocassionally we get back edge snow on a front as the cold air from the North hits the tail end of the front - this is essentially what happened in Jan and Feb this year).

Please feel free to correct this analysis for Cork. Moreover feel free to add your overview of what set ups favour your county / area......

Irish Steve

Clearly, for the East Coast in the Leinster area, if there's nothing frontal bringing weather into the area, a North Easterly will generate streamers in the right conditions, but the Isle of Man also has a very clear effect on them, that 10 mile wide strip of nothing moves up and down the coast with the changes in the wind direction, and the only factor then is the depth of the cloud and the strength of the wind.

Forecasting that seems to be nowcasting, based on the weather radar returns, and again, the different radars seem to give differing results, it's clear today, but the metoeradar.co.uk site had a clear interference pattern that looked for all the world like a Dublin area shield on it for the last couple of days, probably some form of WiFi interference, that pattern was missing on the Met.ie radar, and in theory, the same feed from Dublin Airport generates both feeds.

It's not a project that I could do anything with, what would be interesting would be to find a way to get data from all the amateur weather stations that are in place, so that a clearer picture of what's happening more locally is produced. The problem with that is the siting errors in the stations, and the inherent errors that are present in the cheaper type stations, (I have one, I know) but it should be possible to factor out some of those errors over time.

What is becoming evident is that "normal" patterns of prevailing westerly flow are not as strong as they used to be, I've never seen so many days with runway 10 in use at Dublin as we've seen in the last couple of years, and that pattern seems to have been much more common for a while, with the jet stream being "out of position" compared to where it has been historically. Some research on that is probably needed, I'm not sure the simple "global warming" mantra covers it any more, there are deeper and wider things in play.

Looking out the window here now is a real conundrum. There are cats all over the garden (ours and other peoples) sunning themselves in some strong sun, yet there is snow on the grass, and the ice on a couple of buckets and the like is solid. Hardly a cloud to be seen right now, just a few wisps of high cirrus, and some of that is probably dispersed trails from trans atlantic flights.

As a good friend of mine commented a number of years ago, "Tis simple, ye just have to recognise that Ireland don't have a climate, it has weather, and if ye get more than all 4 seasons in one day, that's a bonus".

That about sums it up.