Irish Weather Statistics

mickmackey1

pauldry wrote: »

Should that be minima ?

It was 2c here

Those are dashes rather than a minus sign... I was confused too

sryanbruen

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Those are dashes rather than a minus sign... I was confused too

Ah I see now, yeah, I always leave a space to tell the difference between minus and a dash. If no space, then it's a minus sign.

sryanbruen

Here's a fantastic in-depth PDF on the Christmas 2000 cold/snowy spell if you'd like to know more about it:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1256/wea.59.03/pdf

sryanbruen

The IMT for February 2018 was 3.4c. This makes it the coldest February since 2010, which had an IMT of 2.7c.

Calculated using Met Éireann's historical data and UKMO's figure for Northern Ireland.

nacho libre

https://www.irishpost.co.uk/life-style/five-of-the-worst-ever-snow-blizzards-in-irelands-history-150441

Actually looking at this page and the met eireann archive we have been very lucky indeed to get two notable cold outbreaks and snow within 8 years.

sryanbruen

nacho libre wrote: »

https://www.irishpost.co.uk/life-style/five-of-the-worst-ever-snow-blizzards-in-irelands-history-150441

Actually looking at this page and the met eireann archive we have been very lucky indeed to get two notable cold outbreaks and snow within 8 years.

In comparison to the 90s and 00s, we've been spoiled this decade to be honest with cold and snow.

nacho libre

Sryan, March 1853 might be of interest to you. Apparently there was serious cold in the second half of that month in the Uk. It could be a reminder of whats to come later this month if the core of the cold out east somehow managed to make it to Ireland

sryanbruen

nacho libre wrote: »

Sryan, March 1853 might be of interest to you. Apparently there was serious cold in the second half of that month in the Uk. It could be a reminder of whats to come later this month if the core of the cold out east somehow managed to make it to Ireland

Will look at it tomorrow and maybe do a post on it here, no guarantees.

Oneiric 3

nacho libre wrote: »

Sryan, March 1853 might be of interest to you. Apparently there was serious cold in the second half of that month in the Uk.

sryanbruen

March 1853 had a CET of only 3.4c, this makes it the 39th coldest March on record for the CET. The CETs for March 1962 & 2013 (the modern day extremely cold Marches) in comparison are 2.8c and 2.7c respectively. This was preceded by the 18th coldest February on record with a CET of 0.6c. Other than the CETs, I can't find any other data on March 1853.

Here's a chart rundown of the month.

It seems March 1853 began with a slack northeasterly flow continuing on from quite a cold end to February with some notable snowfall days. The winds veered to a northerly on the 2nd and the cold intensified a bit. Minimums could have been getting down to the likes of -5 to -7c, possibly lower especially seeing how far back this was. Maximums would have struggled to get much above 2c, even though historically, northerlies in March don't tend to be that extreme. The 3rd was an exceptionally cold day with upper airs of -10 very close to Ireland. However, pressure was high so it was a dry and very frosty day.







On the 4th, high pressure began to push away to the east and let the Atlantic invade on the cold. It turned significantly milder in the next few days after with 10c definitely being achievable, perhaps around the mid teens in quite a southerly flow. However, warm air advection up to the Arctic was also taking place as you can see on the 8th March 1853 with the cold pool not far away from us over Scandinavia. In this setup, it wasn't particularly unsettled with just some rain from time to time and mild.



By the 11th, we go into a southeasterly flow briefly. However, a northwesterly quickly takes over with a low pressure going in a southeast trajectory. The low parked itself over the country for a day or two before being forced away to the southeast of England and stalling over France. This brought the winds into the east and the beast came quickly to us. This cold would be incredible in the middle of Winter, never mind the middle of March with -10 uppers becoming established for a couple of days.







Milder air tried to clip the west of Ireland on the 21st but the beast won the battle and in fact, temperatures plunged massively the day after with -10 uppers again. I repeat, this all happened in March!





-16 upper airs just about touched the southeast of England on 24 March 1853.



The cold finally ended at the very end with low pressure pushing up from the south introducing much milder air and perhaps a bit stormy conditions too. April 1853 wasn't fantastic, it was also cooler than average - at least by today's standards and is comparable to April 2016 but it was much milder than March 1853.



The problem with March 1853 was that pressure was too high much of the time for any significant snowfalls to take place so was kind of like February 1986 in that it was extremely cold but very dry too. March 1853 would have been an even more notable cold wise if it weren't for those brief mild incursions near the beginning and the very end of the month.

sryanbruen

I'd like to add on too that March 1853 was just before solar minimum at the end of solar cycle 9 into solar cycle 10. March 2018 is about the same as that.

Billcarson

Any idea what winter 1853/54 was like?

Elmer Blooker

Where did you get those 1853 charts Sryan? I can't find anything that goes back that far. I would love to see charts for Feb 1855 which was a sub zero extreme month like Jan 1881, Feb 1895 and Dec 2010.

sryanbruen

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

Where did you get those 1853 charts Sryan? I can't find anything that goes back that far. I would love to see charts for Feb 1855 which was a sub zero extreme month like Jan 1881, Feb 1895 and Dec 2010.

NOAA reanalysis archive on wetterzentrale.de goes back to 1851 as of early Autumn last year I think it was, they previously went as far back as 1871 but it had been updated then to 1851 - hopefully it'll be updated again sometime in the future and we'll get to see the charts for incredible months like May 1833 and June 1846.

www.wetterzentrale.de/en/reanalysis.php?map=1&model=noaa&var=1

sryanbruen

Billcarson wrote: »

Any idea what winter 1853/54 was like?

A very anticyclonic and cold December, a January extremely similar to 2018 (quite scary how similar it is) but more settled and cooler than 2018 and a February that was rather mild (but not significantly so) but anticyclonic with some cold incursions.

CETs

December 1853: 1.3
January 1854: 3.6
February 1854: 4.3
Winter 1853/54: 3.1

Overall, a very dry Winter in a very dry year (1854). The 1850s-1880s had an awful lot of very dry weather for us, including our driest year on record - 1887 - which also contained Ireland's all-time highest maximum temperature. I did an article on June 1887 last year to celebrate its 130th anniversary.

There isn't much data on the Winter itself but going by the charts, it was a very southeasterly dominated Winter with several cold incursions and very anticyclonic too.

sryanbruen

The wettest March on record for Dublin Airport (records go back to 1942) was 1964 with 106.6mm of rainfall. March 2008 came close at 102.4mm. March 2018 up to the 15th is at 142.7mm.

Data from Met Éireann.

sryanbruen

St. Patrick's Day weather in previous years since 2007

2017: Fairly mild (9-12c) with light rain on a cold front trying to push southwards in a westerly airstream.
2016: High pressure centered to the northwest of Europe but ridging into Ireland bringing various amounts of cloud and sunshine, the best in the northwest. Rather mild in parts but cool in others under very slack winds, generally between 8-13c.
2015: Dry with good sunny spells to the west but rather cloudy elsewhere in rather mild easterly winds, 8-14c.
2014: Rather mild with 9-13c and cloudy. Patchy rain and drizzle to the west and north.
2013: Scattered outbreaks of rain, snow and sleet across the country, becoming widespread during the afternoon in cold northerly to northeasterly winds (4-10c). Good sunny spells in the midlands.
2012: Heavy showers across the country in a northwesterly flow. Fairly cool in parts after a frosty night, 6-12c.
2011: Band of light rain pushes eastwards overnight into the morning clearing the east very soon before midday in a northwesterly airstream. High pressure ascending from the south to give drier air and sunnier conditions for parts but fairly cool in 7-10c. Widespread frost overnight.
2010: Some showers to the west during the early morning hours but dry throughout otherwise in mostly cloudy conditions. Winds quite strong blowing in a southerly direction bringing in milder temperatures than preceding days of 10-14c.
2009: Plenty of sunshine around Ireland to be enjoyed with the drinking in southeasterly winds. Cloudy for most of the day in the very north but even here, some sunny spells. Warm for the time of year though that bit cooler along eastern coastlines of 11-17c.
2008: Mostly cold but dry and sunny. Becoming very frosty overnight in light easterly winds bringing temperatures of 7-12c.
2007: Westerly winds brought a band of rain eastwards followed by some showers. Sunshine generally ahead of the weather front in mild temperatures of 11 or 12c.

Would you like me to do more years of St. Patrick's Day weather here?

The best one out of the above in my opinion was 2009.



Descriptions come from Met Éireann data and my own chart interpretations.

sryanbruen

Notable sunny Spring/Summer months at Valentia Observatory since 1939

June 2014 - 262.9 hours
June 2006 - 239.1 hours
May 1997 - 246.3 hours
May 1989 - 241.3 hours
May 1975 - 244.8 hours
August 1968 - 242.1 hours
May 1959 - 239.8 hours
June 1957 - 249.1 hours
May 1957 - 243.5 hours
July 1955 - 308.2 hours
May 1951 - 244.6 hours
June 1949 - 247.8 hours
August 1947 - 239.9 hours
June 1940 - 285.9 hours
May 1940 - 235.6 hours

Going by these figures, a month of more than 230 hours of sunshine at Valentia Observatory is recorded every 5.3 hours but this is just an average as the differences in years can either be much smaller or much larger. For example, May 1975 to May 1989 - 14 years, or May 1940 to June 1940 - 0 years 1 month. Some fun trivia.

Data from Met Éireann.

sryanbruen

sryanbruen wrote: »

I am looking through the data of various stations from Met Éireann to see for you. Here's some notable March low maximum temperatures I've found so far:

Casement Aerodrome

1.6c on the 1st March 1965
1.8c on the 2nd March 1965 (with an overnight low of -9.6c)
1.9c on the 4th March 1965
0.7c on the 17th March 1979

Cork Airport

0.9c on the 4th March 1965
1.2c on the 16th March 1979
2.0c on the 17th March 1979

From what I can see here, 1 March 2018 has broken records although Met Éireann's historical data documents are really limited in how far you can go back with stations' records.

Dublin Airport to add to the list.

Dublin Airport

0.9c on the 6th March 1942
1.3c on the 1st March 1947
1.6c on the 7th March 1951
2.2c on the 4th March 1953
2.8c on the 9th March 1958
1.1c on the 3rd March 1962
2.0c on the 1st March 1965
1.8c on the 2nd March 1965
2.4c on the 4th March 1965
1.3c on the 17th March 1979
2.9c on the 19th March 1980
2.9c on the 1st March 1986
2.4c on the 13th March 1996
3.0c on the 1st March 2001
2.8c on the 2nd March 2001
1.9c on the 11th March 2013
2.1c on the 24th March 2013

sryanbruen

Save these Met Éireann synoptics for future generations .

Wednesday, 14 March 2018



Saturday, 17 March 2018



Sunday, 18 March 2018

Oneiric 3

Another one for the collection Syran. From March 2nd:

sryanbruen

Ok, I can finally present my full January 1987 article. This is going to be about the beast from the east event that occurred in this month for Ireland and the UK; it also plagued much of Europe with some extraordinary temperatures.

Some background information on the Winter itself to start. Winter 1986-87 overall was fairly unremarkable beginning with a very unsettled end to 1986. For England and Wales, they had their 15th wettest December on record and it was the 8th wettest on record for the UK as a whole. It was a very zonal dominated month with low pressure to the north and high pressure to the south over the Azores. It was somewhat strange seeing a month as zonal as December 1986 in the middle of solar minimum. However, there was blocking over the Arctic as can be seen from the reanalysis below which could be indicated as a teaser of what was to come in January 1987. This was coming off the back of a very cold year that 1986 was. Valentia Observatory (Cahirciveen at the time) and Roche's Point both had their coldest year in their records and hasn't been beaten since. Winter 1986-87 is remembered for the one January 1987 event showing you how significant it was because it was quite an unremarkable and forgettable Winter overall.



The zonal flow continued into the early days of January but the Polar Jet is on a more southerly track so the air is not particularly mild and in fact, rather chilly. Temperatures between 4-7c generally, some milder than others.



High pressure attempted to ascend from the south on the 3rd and into the 4th before low pressure pushed into the north again. Temperatures getting up to low double figures in brief warm air masses ahead of the front. This low went to the east of the UK and into continental Europe forcing high pressure to build in the middle of the Atlantic ridging into Ireland.



By the 8th, high pressure is over Ireland trying to block off the Atlantic, fails doing so briefly as outbreaks of rain reach the country. A deep severe cold pool was building to the east of Europe with warm air advection taking place to the west. What this meant is that warm air from the south is being flown into the Arctic which in turn sends cold air out into the mid-latitudes. It just happens that this time it was Europe that got the cold air. Ireland is fairly chilly with some outbreaks of rain and the odd sunny spell.





The weak low that brought outbreaks of rain on the 8th/9th started to clear southwards on the 10th and the beast from the east developed itself. The main period for the event is the 11th to the 14th but the 10th, 15th and 16th were pretty cold in parts also.



Sunday 11th:



Monday 12th:



Tuesday 13th:



Wednesday 14th:



Monday 12th & Tuesday 13th January 1987 were both the coldest days of the entire century in terms of mean temperatures, colder than any day of 1947, 1963, 1979 and 1982. They weren't remarkable in terms of air minimum temperatures, especially in Ireland but their air maximum temperatures were incredibly low with some records being smashed. The table below I made is of some random stations picked around the Emerald Isle and their air maximum temperatures for each of the days shown above with charts of the beast from the east. We would not see air maximums this low again until December 2010, even February 1991 wasn't as cold to this extreme level. For the CET, you would have to go back to the likes of 1740 to see anything close to the severity of this January 1987 extreme cold. The whole of the UK (in terms of the official temperature records) nearly recorded an ice day (failing to reach an air maximum of 0.0c or above throughout the day) on the 12th January 1987. The one station that went above freezing was at the Butt of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides to the northwest of Scotland. This is the closest you will find to a day in the UK where every place is recording an ice day, there is no other competition for such in the official records. Southend in Essex, where 38 cm of snow was lying, did not exceed -9°C between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m of the 12th January 1987.

Some UK data from January 1987 courtesy of Kevin Bradshaw from the UKWeatherworld link in the sources:

The intense cold and heavy snowfalls hit the SE the hardest. Transport was gridlocked and the cold even affected Big Ben's chiming hammer.

Data for January 1987

CET: 0.8
CET max mean: 3.2
CET min mean: -1.5

Coldest CET maximum day: -5.7 12th January
Coldest CET minimum day: -9.7 12th January

8th-19th January CET: -3.0

Heathrow
Mean Max: 3.6
Mean Min: -1.0
Air frosts: 18
Days with falling sleet/snow: 9
Days with lying snow: 6

Lowestoft
Mean Max: 2.7
Mean Min: -0.8
Air frosts: 18
Days with falling sleet/snow: 7
Days with lying snow: 11

Cardiff
Mean Max: 3.6
Mean Min: -0.8
Air frosts: 18
Days with falling sleet/snow: 6
Days with lying snow: 4

Elmdon
Mean Max: 3.0
Mean Min: -2.6
Air frosts: 20
Days with falling sleet/snow: 10
Days with lying snow: 12

Manchester
Mean Max: 3.7
Mean Min: -1.0
Air frosts: 20
Days with falling sleet/snow: 10
Days with lying snow: 7

Abbotsinch
Mean Max: 3.9
Mean Min: -2.2
Air frosts: 19
Days with falling sleet/snow: 11
Days with lying snow: 9

Belfast
Mean Max: 5.4
Mean Min: -0.8
Air frosts: 13
Days with falling sleet/snow: 8
Days with lying snow: 5

Plymouth
Mean Max: 5.3
Mean Min: 0.9
Air frosts: 20
Days with falling sleet/snow: 3
Days with lying snow: 2

Coldest CET days on record
Jan 12 1987 -5.7
Jan 26 1945 -4.5
Feb 06 1895 -4.5
Jan 14 1881 -4.4
Jan 05 1894 -4.2
Dec 12 1908 -4.0
Jan 25 1881 -4.0
Feb 15 1929 -3.9
Feb 01 1956 -3.8
Jan 29 1947 -3.8

The UK mean temperature was 0.7c.
The Central England mean temperature (CET) was 0.8c.
The Irish mean temperature (IMT) was 4.7c.

It wasn't all beastly as the easterly brought with it a lot of cloud. In fact, Rosslare had less than 1 hour of sunshine from the 10th to the 28th January. 'Twas a very dry month too so much of the time besides the beasterly, not a lot happened in Ireland.

Here is what Met Éireann says about the month:

On Sunday 11th January, a cold southeasterly airflow covered the country. During the 12th, snow showers were confined mainly to the east and south, and accumulations were generally small. Easterly winds were moderate to fresh. Snow showers on 13th penetrated further westward over Ireland and snowfalls seriously affected Cork City and its environs. Places in the east and midlands reported appreciable depths of snow on Wednesday 14th. Moderate southeasterly winds accompanied snowfalls and drifting occurred. Road travel was impeded, and some main roads were made impassable. Temperatures rose a little above zero on Thursday and a slow thaw set in. Unlike the 1982 situation, roads which were cleared did not freeze over after Thursday and travelling conditions on main roads improved quickly. Conditions had much improved by Saturday and on Sunday 18th only traces of snow-lying remained.

12cm of snow was reported at Roche's Point. This is the greatest depth of snow recorded at this location since systematic measurements of snow depths began in 1961. At Roche's Point also, air minimum temperatures fell to -7.2c on the night of the 12th/13th which is the lowest air temperature recorded at Roche's Point since records began in 1867.

January 1987 snowfall depth measurements at a handful of stations over Ireland.



Minimum temperatures for January 1987 around the country, posted these previously in a brief post on the month but I thought I'd add them here again in with the article. Some of the stations' minimum temperatures you'll notice are recorded on the 31 January 1987 instead of during the beast from the east event.

Ardee; -8.9c on the 31st
Ardfert; -8.3c on the 14th
Ballinamore; -8.4c on the 13th
Ballinrobe; -8.1c on the 31st
Belmullet; -5.7c on the 13th
Birr; -8.9c on the 14th
Carlow; -7.7c on the 14th
Cahirciveen; -5.9c on the 13th
Casement Aerodrome; -7.6c on the 31st
Claremorris; -7.8c on the 13th
Clones; -8.0c on the 13th
Clonroche; -6.7c on the 13th
Cork Airport; -8.0c on the 13th
Dublin Airport; -5.2c on the 13th
Dungarvan; -6.2c on the 13th
Dunsany; -8.5c on the 31st
Coolnakilla; -8.3c on 13th
Galway; -7.7c on the 13th
Glenamoy; -6.8c on the 13th
Glencolumbkille; -7.0c on the 14th
Glenties; -8.2c on the 14th
John F. Kennedy Park; -6.9c on the 13th
Johnstown Castle; -6.1c on the 13th
Kilkenny; -7.0c on the 14th
Killarney; -7.8c on the 13th
Kinsealy; -6.6c on the 31st
Knockavilla; -6.8c on the 13th
Lullymore; -7.5c on the 31st
Malin Head; -3.9c on the 12th
Mooncoin; -9.2c on the 13th
Moore Park; -6.9c on the 13th
Mullingar; -7.4c on the 13th
Roche's Point; -7.2c on the 13th
Rosslare; -4.4c on the 12th/13th
Shannon Airport; -7.2c on the 13th

31 January was a settled and cold day with barely any wind which made for the severe frosts in places.



Reanalysis for January 1987 showing the severe blocking over Iceland.



Here's what Redsunset had to say about the event:

Redsunset wrote: »

Record Cold Spell of 1987: How It All Started

It is well accepted that the most severe spell of weather in southern England since the 'Little Ice Age' occurred in the unlikely year of 1987 in an otherwise 'average' winter.

So what brought about such a severe spell and why did it end as quickly as it started.

The story begins in the first few days of January 1987, looking at the surface chart a cold spell seemed miles away as a strong High of 1032mb sat over Spain with the U.K. and Western Europe in a strong Westerly flow, temperatures through most of Europe were above normal, however in Scandinavia and Northwest Russia it was intensely cold.

The first change occurred quickly on the 2nd as the Iberian High shifted Westwards and low pressure transferred into the North Sea, a brief Northerly swept south across the U.K. but it was hardly cold.

By Sunday 4th High pressure was back over France with the U.K. in another mild flow, however by now the models thought something was up and on the Countryfile forecast on the 4th the forecast was for a short but very cold Northeasterly outbreak mid week as low pressure crossed Holland. The models however predicted that the Arctic outbreak would be short and that milder westerly winds would take over again by the weekend.

The short cold spell was in fact a non-event as rising pressure over Ireland killed off the Arctic Airflow and by the 7th High pressure was centered over the Irish Sea and the weather cool and quiet.

By the 7th the models still couldn’t decide which way things were going to go and the Met. Office remained silent about prospects for the weekend.

Things then moved very quickly, a deepening low moved south across Norway on the 8th and into Germany by the 9th and behind this low there was a massive rise in pressure over Scandinavia. At the same time a large pool of intensely cold air had swept out of Western Russia and was crossing Poland and East Germany, at last the models could see what was going to happen and early on the 9th the message went out: 'Very Cold later in the weekend'.

Meanwhile pressure continued to rise over Scandy reaching 1040mb over Finland by the 10th. Sub freezing air reached Eastern England on the afternoon of the 10th and this very cold air reached all areas by dawn on the 11th.

The Countryfile Forecast on the 11th was a 'classic' John Kettley saying "The only bright thing on this forecast is my tie!" He rightly predicted freezing temperatures and blizzards all week although even now the depth of the cold was being under estimated.

During the day temperatures kept on falling as snow showers became more intense, Monday 12th was probably one of the most remarkable days of the 20th Century as temperatures stayed below -5c throughout England and below -8c in several places in the home Counties.

The Weather Log for Jan. 1987 describes the 12th-14th as the coldest spell of weather in southern England since January 1740.

Over the next few days the U.K. was swept by blizzards and freezing temperatures as an upper cold pool crossed England.

The models showed no sign of a break in the weather and on the Countryfile Forecast on January 18th the forecast was for a very cold but drier week, however within 24 hours this forecast went wrong.

During the 19th a warm front crossed the U.K. cutting off the continental feed and high pressure then formed in the warm sector.

By the 20th temperatures of 4c-6c were recorded over most parts and a steady thaw began. The next 10 days were dull and sunless the severe spell becoming a distant memory.

The interesting thing about the cold spell is the poor performance of the forecast models even up to +72 hours, O.K. computers are better now but I still think they would struggle with a similar chain of events.

That's not all though, the atmosphere was to continue to act unusual courtesy of a SSW that occurred shortly after the main beast from the east event in January 1987. This would be followed by one of the snowiest Marches of the 20th century.



Sources

http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/weather-events/Jan1987_snow.pdf

http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/clim-1987-Jan.pdf

http://edepositireland.ie/handle/2262/71130

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/49553-january-1987/

https://www.booty.org.uk/booty.weather/climate/1975_1999.htm

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoother/twocontent.aspx?type=libgen&id=1503

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1987_Southeast_England_snowfall

https://wansteadmeteo.wordpress.com/2017/01/03/30-years-on-the-january-1987-cold-spell/

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/mohippo/pdf/o/j/jan1987.pdf

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=52624843

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/117325-days-with-nowhere-above-zero/

nacho libre

Excellent work Sryan. I've no doubt we'll see you in years to come with your own newspaper column about the weather. You should consider writing a book about these notable weather events we've been having. I'm sure there is a niche market for it.

NAGDEFI

sryanbruen wrote: »

Ok, I can finally present my full January 1987 article. This is going to be about the beast from the east event that occurred in this month for Ireland and the UK; it also plagued much of Europe with some extraordinary temperatures.

Brilliant sryan! I remember the Monday and Tuesday, 12/13 January so well. I'll never forget the depth of cold and snow laden skies of that Tuesday morning. It was a brief but brilliant cold spell.

Ckit1

Sryan, dude, that's a masterful piece of work. Kudos!

You're like the new Michael Viney!
I reckon, if this "Mini Ice Age" prelude continues... TG4 might have to give you your own slot!
"Amanathar le Syran Bruen"

You've gotta read that "Little Ice Age" book by Brian Fagan.
Negative NAO... Maunder Minimum... SSW... etc., etc.
It's mega.
Right up your street man! & pretty current!

Cheers again; keep up the great work!

Oneiric 3

This was No.1 in the pop charts at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTs8a7dVa0

Truly awful stuff.

nacho libre

Ckit1 wrote: »

Sryan, dude, that's a masterful piece of work. Kudos!

You're like the new Michael Viney!

That man is a legend. His depth of knowledge is extraordinary. I have not read his column in a long time. I hope it's still going.

SleetAndSnow

Great read there Sryan! Loved reading it as usual! Keep up the great work

Ckit1

nacho libre wrote: »

That man is a legend. His depth of knowledge is extraordinary. I have not read his column in a long time. I hope it's still going.

Couldn't agree more and he's still writing great columns... with a great minds' eye for describing the wilds and the weather.... and doing his own fantastic illustrations.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/storm-emma-brought-us-the-regular-refugees-from-winter-cold-1.3418219

Up there near Killadoon, on a mesmeric edge of the country, staring out beyond White Strand, at Inisturk and Inisbofin, he has the perfect inpirations. And despite the hardships, he has enjoyed them for all those years since he left citylife behind. Legend.

Michael Viney, Dick Warner and a few of our learned friends from this forum... Great folks for sharing the knowledge and inspiring interest.

Apologies for the off-topic post... Great to have the old heads, and the new ones educating us here. Thanks again.:)

sryanbruen

I'd highly doubt the majority of you would remember this northerly from March 2007.

An active cold front pushed southwards on the 18th March bringing much colder air behind it after a relatively mild St. Patrick's Day and an otherwise quite warm start to March. The winds were northwesterly on the 18th but then turned to a direct northerly on the 19th. A block of high pressure built itself out in the Atlantic with a deep trough to the east of the UK over Scandinavia which forced this northerly plunge to take place. This brought rain, hail and snow showers with it. The low in Scotland and parts of the UK brought blizzards on the 18th as can be seen from the Birmingham video below. Maximums of 3c in Scotland up to 9 or 10c in the south of Ireland and the UK. However, the Polar Vortex was displaced over Canada so this northerly wouldn't last all that long as a result and high pressure started to ridge in across Ireland from the Atlantic on the 20th along with the winds veering to a northeasterly. Some impressive cold upper airs though for March all the while! We briefly went into a westerly on the afternoon of the 21st which brought with it some rain from the Atlantic that would clear later on the 22nd, it being very weak in nature. After this, high pressure ridged in again from the Azores and then developed itself over Scandinavia. However, Europe was not cold so any air from easterlies was not cold, in fact, it was rather mild with daytime temperatures in the 10-15c range for much of the last week of March.

The lowest temperature seen during this spell was -3.7c on the 21st at Casement Aerodrome before the westerlies approached. Birr and Kilkenny had grass minimums of -10.5c on the same day.















This spell was preceded by several stratosphere warming events including the SSW at the beginning of March.



http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/clim-2007-Mar.pdf

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2007/march