Ice Alert North Co. dublin

Pablo Rubio · 28-12-2013 11:18am #1

Was out this Morning and turned back quick enough after a couple of close shaves on main roads. Black Ice and frozen puddles from Swords to Blakes Cross.A few lads we were meeting coming from Lusk said it was lethal.

slfcarro5 · 28-12-2013 11:32am

Thanks for this. Was just about to go out the North County Dublin direction

Wishbone Ash · 28-12-2013 11:49am

Pablo Rubio wrote: »

...A few lads we were meeting coming from Lusk said it was lethal.

I came off on the Rush side of the train station on black ice around 9.15am. I was lucky there was no traffic in the immediate vicinity as I slid across the road.

RobFowl · 28-12-2013 11:51am

Just back from and off road spin (did it to avoid the ice) but roads from ardgillan down to balrothery still lethal. You'd be mad to go out on the roads today, saw 2 cars lose control in the short period I was on Tarmac, my friend saw 1 skid and another crash from his side.

NamelessPhil · 28-12-2013 1:34pm

Just back from the club spin. One lad came off at Laraghcon in Lucan, there was black ice all around Lucan. We decided to ride into town and out the coast road to Malahide which was fine.

velo.2010 · 28-12-2013 2:23pm

You can add North Kildare, Meath etc. to that list. Reports of black ice a plenty at the shop this morning. A couple of lads came came off on the drop down into Lucan from the Clonsilla/Blanch side.

Anyway, our group headed into town via the N4 and on out to Howth for some laps, coffee stop and home into a nasty head wind.

Forecast looks dodgy again for tomorrow.

AmberGold · 28-12-2013 2:26pm

Deceivingly icy as I found to my detriment. Came off in Swords mid morning, gave myself a right smack. It'll be a few bob to repair damage to clothes, bike etc and a few weeks before I'll be back on the bike. Could have been a lot worse.

LennoxR · 28-12-2013 2:45pm

It's grand out Enniskerry way, went up and over Devil's Elbow and fine there too.

disco1 · 28-12-2013 2:47pm

AmberGold wrote: »

Deceivingly icy as I found to my detriment. Came off in Swords mid morning, gave myself a right smack. It'll be a few bob to repair damage to clothes, bike etc and a few weeks before I'll be back on the bike. Could have been a lot worse.

Hope the bike is ok conrad.

AmberGold · 28-12-2013 3:13pm

Could have been a lot worse Ken, I could have ripped the new Assos jacket

disco1 · 28-12-2013 3:26pm

AmberGold wrote: »

Could have been a lot worse Ken, I could have ripped the new Assos jacket

now thay would have ruined christmas best of luck hope your ok.

Koobcam · 28-12-2013 3:56pm

Just back from a spin-Newbridge-Rathangan-Portlaoise-Stradbally-Athy. I left later than usual hoping to avoid ice, but there was still plenty of shaded back roads with ice, though it was grand later in the day. I reckon either going out later or just off-roading is the way to go the next couple of days-tomorrow will definitely be very icy still

slfcarro5 · 28-12-2013 5:33pm

Went out for a spin around Dunboyne summerhill Tara dunshaughlin and the roads were fine although I left it til about 12 to go out so it wouldn't be as icy

brasshead · 28-12-2013 6:05pm

yep, set out from Skerries and headed off the coast and quickly aborted after I felt a wobble from the front wheel.

How on earth did the forecasters not predict this frost?

RobFowl · 28-12-2013 6:15pm

brasshead wrote: »

yep, set out from Skerries and headed off the coast and quickly aborted after I felt a wobble from the front wheel.

How on earth did the forecasters not predict this frost?

Met Éireann ‏@MetEireann 13h
A frosty start today/risk of icy patches.Saturday bright day with a mix of sunny spells&shwrs.The shwrs in W&N,hail&thunder.Max 5 to 7C.

Met Éireann ‏@MetEireann 22h
Bec less windy too as the strong W ease off.There will be further shwrs overnight,mainly in the N&W.Min -2 to +2C,with frost&icy patches.

Met Éireann ‏@MetEireann 27 Dec
Winds will ease this eve/nite.Showers becoming limited to W counties.Min -1 to +2.Widespread frost by dawn.Tmrw shrws but less windy,Max 6-8

Wishbone Ash · 28-12-2013 6:26pm

Usual signs weren't there though on my route- i.e. no frost on vehicle windscreens, no sign of frost on fields and grass verges, no frozen puddles etc.

brasshead · 28-12-2013 6:27pm

RobFowl wrote: »

Met Éireann ‏@MetEireann 13h
A frosty start today/risk of icy patches.Saturday bright day with a mix of sunny spells&shwrs.The shwrs in W&N,hail&thunder.Max 5 to 7C.

Met Éireann ‏@MetEireann 22h
Bec less windy too as the strong W ease off.There will be further shwrs overnight,mainly in the N&W.Min -2 to +2C,with frost&icy patches.

Met Éireann ‏@MetEireann 27 Dec
Winds will ease this eve/nite.Showers becoming limited to W counties.Min -1 to +2.Widespread frost by dawn.Tmrw shrws but less windy,Max 6-8

OK, perhaps the question I should've asked was, why were the roads not gritted by Fingal CoCo?

wirelessdude01 · 28-12-2013 7:01pm

brasshead wrote: »

How on earth did the forecasters not predict this frost?

The weather on the 9 o'clock news last night warned of a widespread frost.

Koobcam · 28-12-2013 7:04pm

yr.no is a good site for local weather-you can find all sorts of places in the middle of nowhere on it. The hour-by-hour graph is really handy for predicting ice-rain, followed by a sharp drop in temperature is a pretty good indicator of likely black ice. Glad I have the mountain bike-hurts a lot less when you slip up on grass

Vizzy · 28-12-2013 7:07pm

brasshead wrote: »

OK, perhaps the question I should've asked was, why were the roads not gritted by Fingal CoCo?

Priority Salting Routes 2013/2014
http://www.fingal.ie/media/Priority%20Salting%20Routes%20for%202013_2014.pdf
General Salting Routes 2013/2014
http://www.fingal.ie/media/Salting%20Routes%20for%202013_2014.pdf

Wishbone Ash · 28-12-2013 8:13pm

Vizzy wrote: »

Priority Salting Routes 2013/2014
http://www.fingal.ie/media/Priority%20Salting%20Routes%20for%202013_2014.pdf
General Salting Routes 2013/2014
http://www.fingal.ie/media/Salting%20Routes%20for%202013_2014.pdf

From that link it appears they didn't do any gritting as the priority routes weren't done (yet they had crews out on Christmas night).

(As an aside, given the terrain, I would have thought Howth would be a priority area).

Vizzy · 28-12-2013 8:33pm

WA,
Not from the area so I don't know the terrain but Fingal will have limited resources(i.e salt spreaders which are attached to the "normal" truck) so I would imagine that they will concentrate on National Primary & National Secondary roads and then use any extra resources on Regional roads.
Just as a rough estimate one nights callout, for 10 trucks approx, will be €25 to €30k (this would typically include for 2 runs over all the routes).

Also they won't typically be "gritting" the roads, rather they will be salted( and maybe that is what you meant) but I wouldn't be too happy cycling on 23mm tyres on salted roads either.
I nearly lost my Subaru(4X4) this morning on a salted road. Problem was that it had rained on the salt and then frozen again.

Wishbone Ash · 28-12-2013 8:40pm

Vizzy wrote: »

... I would imagine that they will concentrate on National Primary & National Secondary roads...

Thanks for that.

Are the NRA responsible for 'M' and 'N' routes? The priority routes in the link you provided are all 'R' routes (e.g. M1 motorway is not included as a priority).

Vizzy · 28-12-2013 8:48pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Thanks for that.

Are the NRA responsible for 'M' and 'N' routes? The priority routes in the link you provided are all 'R' routes (e.g. M1 motorway is not included as a priority).

Not sure about the M routes in Dublin and surrounds but in other parts of the country all the maintenance of the motorways is contracted out.
The N routes would be done by Fingal CC.
The links are directly from the Fingal CC website and there may not be any N routes in the area after the motorway being built(i.e. they may have been reclassified as R, but I doubt if they all were). If that is the case then Fingal would be doing the "R" routes as priority.

billyhead · 28-12-2013 9:09pm

Are the roads expected to be the same as today in the morning. Was planning to head out early or will it be more of the same

g0g · 28-12-2013 9:39pm

Anyone out in Wicklow today? Considering a first spin in ages tomorrow from Bray. Might Roundwood be a bad idea? Thinking maybe Wicklow town direction instead...

greenmat · 28-12-2013 9:52pm

billyhead wrote: »

Are the roads expected to be the same as today in the morning. Was planning to head out early or will it be more of the same

I'd say it will be more of the same tomorrow. I wouldn't chance it early unless you like hospital food. North of Blakes Cross this morning at 9.30am was lethal. A couple of my group headed back to Swords-Malahide-Howth and said it was fine.

bcmf · 28-12-2013 10:43pm

I was working around Swords form 7 this morn and it was fine but once we got to Turvey/donabate it was lethal.

detones · 28-12-2013 11:20pm

After the past couple of days you can see why nobody runs any Sportives or Races this time of year . . . . . Except for those cross nutters ;-)

Lumen · 28-12-2013 11:26pm

detones wrote: »

After the past couple of days you can see why nobody runs any Sportives or Races this time of year . . . . . Except for those cross nutters ;-)

Our very own Vladimir Kurtains won the Orwell hamper race last Sunday.

I think it might have been snowing.

detones · 28-12-2013 11:41pm

Lumen wrote: »

Our very own Vladimir Kurtains won the Orwell hamper race last Sunday.

I think it might have been snowing.

Orwell eh. I meant nobody of any significance.

Ducks, runs for cover and hides ;-)

Fathead · 29-12-2013 9:42am

Pretty bad out my way Ashbourne. Gonna leave it until this afternoon. Be careful if you venture out

sullzz · 29-12-2013 9:44am

Fathead wrote: »

Pretty bad out my way Ashbourne. Gonna leave it until this afternoon. Be careful if you venture out

Leixlip area is bad too , bike went from under me outside my house.

detones · 29-12-2013 10:05am

3rd day in a row I can't get out due to weather :-( Looking bad up here in NCD, might be ok by midday, club spin was cancelled. Tomorrow looking good and I'm off so wait till then. Not worth the risk this time of year especially.

brasshead · 29-12-2013 10:35am

detones wrote: »

3rd day in a row I can't get out due to weather :-( Looking bad up here in NCD, might be ok by midday, club spin was cancelled. Tomorrow looking good and I'm off so wait till then. Not worth the risk this time of year especially.

Even after 12, I'd still be wary of going off the main roads.

Beasty · 29-12-2013 11:58am

The tarmac parts of the CX course at River Valley, Swords were pretty ropey this morning - some of the "proper" roads around there were equally bad. Saw a few road bikes out, but wouldn't be risking it myself

Chips Lovell · 29-12-2013 12:04pm

Lumen wrote: »

Our very own Vladimir Kurtains won the Orwell hamper race last Sunday.

I think it might have been snowing.

It was only snowing for a little while.

wanderer 22 · 29-12-2013 1:03pm

Anyone been out stocking lane/cruagh direction today?

bcmf · 29-12-2013 3:33pm

Just back from a spiin into town and back and down as far as Swords needed full attention but after that and on the way back the clouds rolled in and it was fine.

Raam · 29-12-2013 5:58pm

I saw a car in a ditch near Rolestown. The side roads there where totally white and iced over. R125 seemed OK but you only need to hit one patch of ice on a shaded corner to go down. Not worth it unless you like hospital food.

bryangiggsy · 29-12-2013 6:27pm

Went out at 1 and headed north along the coast. All frost had melted at that stage. Had a decent headwind and some rain on the way back but got 3 hrs in just before it got dark.