Random winter heatwaves

mick145

Why does Ireland always gets these random winter heatwaves where the temps go up to around 12 or 11c for a few days before cooling back down to normal temperatures? What causes this? It's totally unseasonal and just plain strange.

BLIZZARD7

mick145 wrote: »

Why does Ireland always gets these random winter heatwaves where the temps go up to around 12 or 11c for a few days before cooling back down to normal temperatures? What causes this? It's totally unseasonal and just plain strange.

I wouldn't call this a heatwave, tis milder than average alright but not exceptionally so. Average max for Dublin AP in December is 8.6c for example, a few days above and below this figure are to be expected so nothing too unusual in this regard.

The question of why our temperature goes up and down > The Gulf stream/South westerly trade winds would be the cause of that, our climate would be consistently far colder without this influence.
On a global scale our temperature variation annually is actually way less than most countries. A move from say 5c one day to 11c another day is a small range. Nothing strange about this in December.

Compare the annual temperature range for somewhere like Astana in Kazakhstan to Dublin, a continental climate with freezing winters and warm summers. Mean temperature variation of 35c between summer and winter.



Now look at Dublin for comparison, 10c annual range roughly.



Now I know those stats don't explain the variation from mild to cold in the space of a few days in the winter, but that's purely down to the the gulfstream/jetstream and the fact Ireland is an island on the edge of a continent surrounded by relatively warm water.

Gonzo

mick145 wrote: »

Why does Ireland always gets these random winter heatwaves where the temps go up to around 12 or 11c for a few days before cooling back down to normal temperatures? What causes this? It's totally unseasonal and just plain strange.

nothing unusual about 11 or 12C during the Winter in Ireland, much of the past few winters have mostly been 10-13C, we get far too much mild muck in this country.

Even last night it was 11C here and only 7C in Malaga, southern Spain.

Harry Palmr

mick145 wrote: »

Why does Ireland always gets these random winter heatwaves where the temps go up to around 12 or 11c for a few days before cooling back down to normal temperatures? What causes this? It's totally unseasonal and just plain strange.

High Pressure to the south steers in southern air from in this case North Africa/Med



When HP is to the west and LP to the east we get Arctic air, it's all about where the pressure systems are relative to one another

cml387

This is a classic Buchan Spell