Spring 2018: General Discussion

NAGDEFI

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

No he clearly forecast that this is Irish weather. I see he also predicted snowfall in mid/late October. Has snowfall in October ever been recorded in Ireland away from mountainous altitudes?

October snow has. As recently as 2008. Late October Glenshane Pass impassable. Snow to lower levels too. October snow a god few times. Usually the last few days of the month.

https://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/clim-2008-Oct.pdf

DOCARCH

See my October 2008 snow pics....:)

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055408574

sryanbruen

Northern Ireland.

Navan.

JCX BXC

Nowhere near as bad as I expected today. 0.8mm from a short period of rain.

km79

JCX BXC wrote: »

Nowhere near as bad as I expected today. 0.8mm from a short period of rain.

House feels chilly though

Oneiric 3

JCX BXC wrote: »

Nowhere near as bad as I expected today. 0.8mm from a short period of rain.

About 10 times that amount here. Humid/murky with a light drizzle, back to the same oul ****e.

Clonmel1000

It’s been a long winter it really has. And the medium term for Easter looks bad also.

Carol25

Anyone able to give us their current predictions for summer 2018? All this cold has me craving some sun and Vitamin D

Gonzo

Carol25 wrote: »

Anyone able to give us their current predictions for summer 2018? All this cold has me craving some sun and Vitamin D

summer is too far away right now, but I think we will be waiting some time before it's T-shirt weather.

sryanbruen

Carol25 wrote: »

Anyone able to give us their current predictions for summer 2018? All this cold has me craving some sun and Vitamin D

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057827376&page=2

Say my name

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

It’s been a long winter it really has. And the medium term for Easter looks bad also.

Hibernia was well named.

Donegal Storm

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Can't remember this at all. My birthday has a habit of falling in and around the Easter period most years and the weather on it is usually cool, sunny and maybe showery. If there is one period in the year I hate seasonally and weatherwise, it is the late March - April period. Detest it in fact. In my view, Spring proper doesn't really get going until May, at least then, nature is beginning to spring into life.

I was just about to say the same thing when I read this, February through to April is by a distance my least favourite time of year. Well and truly sick of cold windy weather and yet its still too early for any meaningful warmth or thunderstorms.

At least in April we'll get some convection kicking off and some warmth in the sun, at the moment winter just seems to be dragging on and on

Clonmel1000

There really are no proper seasons in Ireland though most of the time, today was just a longer version of a December or November day.

Went to Gran Canaria last week it was glorious to get some sun and warmth perfect weather 24 degrees by day about 17 at night.

sryanbruen

I don't have a least favourite time of year, I love all seasons. I do have least favourite months though such as August 2011, July 2012, March 2013, May 2015, April 2016 etc.

March 2018 has been dull, cold and wet. The three ingredients to a bad month in my books.

I wouldn't call 17c at night perfect weather exactly though......

Elmer Blooker

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

It’s been a long winter it really has. And the medium term for Easter looks bad also.

There are already huge snowdrifts in the highest parts of Wicklow and with a lot more to come I wouldn't be surprised if there will be snow patches left in June!

Clonmel1000

sryanbruen wrote: »

I don't have a least favourite time of year, I love all seasons. I do have least favourite months though such as August 2011, July 2012, March 2013, May 2015, April 2016 etc.

March 2018 has been dull, cold and wet. The three ingredients to a bad month in my books.

I wouldn't call 17c at night perfect weather exactly though......

It’s a lot better than 7 degrees and gloomy.

Artane2002

Was dull earlier with some sunny breaks so it wasn't too bad. Then the rain arrived combined with the dry ground giving off a nice smell.

derekon

sryanbruen wrote: »

I don't have a least favourite time of year, I love all seasons. I do have least favourite months though such as August 2011, July 2012, March 2013, May 2015, April 2016 etc.

March 2018 has been dull, cold and wet. The three ingredients to a bad month in my books.

I wouldn't call 17c at night perfect weather exactly though......

March 2018 has been cold, dull and wet?!!! If I was on Mars for the past month, I would never know by your post that we've just lived through the most extraordinary snow storm in most of our lives!!!!!!!

D

highdef

derekon wrote: »

March 2018 has been cold, dull and wet?!!! If I was on Mars for the past month, I would never know by your post that we've just lived through the most extraordinary snow storm in most of our lives!!!!!!!

D

Agreed, you'd swear March had been a boring month.

As for 17c at night, that sounds perfect for a late evening BBQ.... Nearer 20c after dark in the summer would be even better but beggars can't be choosers.

nacho libre

Donegal Storm wrote: »

I was just about to say the same thing when I read this, February through to April is by a distance my least favourite time of year.

February, if you enjoy snow, is usually one of the best months of the year. You obviously have fallen out of love with it. Maybe after a few years of snowless winter you will learn to love it again:(
As for this March, if you like snow it has been anything but boring!, and it has put to bed one falsehood around snow:that we can't get any decent snow fall and cold after mid February!

sryanbruen

Never once did I mention the word boring or other similar words to it.....

Cold, wet and dull are statistical words which when you look at the stats are so. I do not like any month that has all these combined.

sryanbruen

I just looked at the GFS ensembles for the NAO and AO, both are going down into negative territory with the AO jumping off a cliff again!

Donegal Storm

nacho libre wrote: »

February, if you enjoy snow, is usually one of the best months of the year. You obviously have fallen out of love with it. Maybe after a few years of snowless winter you will learn to love it again:(
As for this March, if you like snow it has been anything but boring!, and it has put to bed one falsehood around snow:that we can't get any decent snow fall and cold after mid February!

I've already had several snowless winters before this one showed up!

I've enjoyed the snow a lot this month but on the whole I have a low tolerance for cold weather and far prefer my snow to happen in December and January. Any later and it tends to lose its novelty factor as I'm getting fed up with the cold and even when it does fall it's unlikely to stick around for too long.

nacho libre

sryanbruen wrote: »

Never once did I mention the word boring or other similar words to it.....

Cold, wet and dull are statistical words which when you look at the stats are so. I do not like any month that has all these combined.

In fairness you did not.
Well you are the stats man, so i take your word for it. It's unusual because often with snow we get a lot of dry and sunny weather, but this March we've had meandering/ rudderless lows after cold outbreaks, so that probably accounts for the dullness. I still wouldn't categorize it as a bad month, though. It was the greatest month in years, if you like snow. That will be the popular perception and recollection of it.

nacho libre

Donegal Storm wrote: »

I've already had several snowless winters before this one showed up!

I've enjoyed the snow a lot this month but on the whole I have a low tolerance for cold weather and far prefer my snow to happen in December and January. Any later and it tends to lose its novelty factor as I'm getting fed up with the cold and even when it does fall it's unlikely to stick around for too long.

Well i would prefer an easterly outbreak in December or January myself, to see how low the temperatures could go and because there would be less of a thaw, but February, at least when i was growing up, was always the optimum month for snow. I'll take snow when i can get it too. Also, if you like extreme events, while not necessarily being a fan of snow, this March was exceptional for that. With this in mind there will surely be stories told about it for years to come.

Just like there is for the great thunderstorms of 1985.

sryanbruen

nacho libre wrote: »

In fairness you did not.
Well you are the stats man, so i take your word for it. It's unusual because often with snow we get a lot of dry and sunny weather, but this March we've had meandering/ rudderless lows after cold outbreaks, so that probably accounts for the dullness. I still wouldn't categorize it as a bad month, though. It was the greatest month in years, if you like snow. That will be the popular perception and recollection of it.

The below 500mb height anomaly reanalysis from NOAA up to 20th March shows why it's been a cold, wet and dull month.

Western based negative NAO with a southerly tracking jet stream but a trough of low heights right over Ireland.

March 2013 was a very similar setup in terms of the 500mb height anomaly though the lowest heights were further eastwards over Ireland and southwards of Europe. Spain had its wettest month on record then.

If this kind of setup were in Winter, it would be very sunny - 2009/10 had this exact setup in terms of trough and jet stream though blocking was over all of the Arctic Circle bringing cold to every continent in the Northern Hemisphere thus why the AO was record breakingly negative for that season.

I think there's a huge mix of cold Marches for sunshine. Sometimes, you have very sunny ones like March 2010 (see how this year always pops up in my discussions for being great!) but sometimes you have very dull ones like March 2013 or 2018. March 1962 was close to average sunshine.

nacho libre

sryanbruen wrote: »

The below 500mb height anomaly reanalysis from NOAA up to 20th March shows why it's been a cold, wet and dull month.

Western based negative NAO with a southerly tracking jet stream but a trough of low heights right over Ireland.

f[/IMG]

Yes with an east based NAO we probably would have had a brighter month, and Elmer Blooker
could have had his prolonged freeze in Late February, instead of the high quickly migrating from Scandanavia all the way to Canada, but then we might not have had the once in a life time snowfall courtesy of Emma.

sryanbruen

Oooh, a special delivery arrived for me today.

Now, I await for my weather books that I ordered as recommended by you guys.

km79

Syranbreun
I mean this in the nicest possible way
You are daft as a brush

Artane2002

I'm already missing the beast now

On another note, yet another cloudy, dry day. There was a hole in the clouds where the sun was earlier giving some brief hazy sunshine. Not really mild but not cold. Mild would be a better word than cold though to describe today.

I'm actually ok with the dull weather this month. This is because it would be harder for the snow to melt under cloudy skies so I didn't want sun. Now we better get repaid for this during summer!!

Clonmel1000

Thoroughly miserable evening here wet and dull.

Oneiric 3

Comparison with the current March with that of March 2013 up to the 22nd of both months using the 11 station IMT mean:

Mean maxima/minima/mean (Deg. C)

2013: 7.7 / 1.5 / 4.60
2018: 7.6 / 1.4 / 4.51

Although we are currently running marginally cooler than March 2013 at the moment, I think it will be unlikely that this March will finish as cool overall.

Data from Met Éireann.

giveitholly

Artane2002 wrote: »

I'm already missing the beast now

On another note, yet another cloudy, dry day. There was a hole in the clouds where the sun was earlier giving some brief hazy sunshine. Not really mild but not cold. Mild would be a better word than cold though to describe today.

I'm actually ok with the dull weather this month. This is because it would be harder for the snow to melt under cloudy skies so I didn't want sun. Now we better get repaid for this during summer!!

Not dry here in tipp,miserable wet and cold since the middle of the day

Oneiric 3

nacho libre wrote: »

Yes with an east based NAO we probably would have had a brighter month, and Elmer Blooker
could have had his prolonged freeze in Late February, instead of the high quickly migrating from Scandanavia all the way to Canada, but then we might not have had the once in a life time snowfall courtesy of Emma.

Yes, but roll on some decent late spring/summer storms!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GRNwwsV4nQ

sryanbruen

Photo sent to me by Vxlks this evening in Dublin.

Donegal Storm

The last of the snow is gone here today, still the odd pile here and there in car parks but just counting actual lying snow patches. The rain overnight made short work of the last patch near the house which was the remains of a drift that was about 8ft deep at the start of the month. First day since February 26th without any snow!

Artane2002

Jaw dropping day in Dublin. Unbroken sunshine. I could live with this until the start of November.

Oops69

Artane2002 wrote: »

Jaw dropping day in Dublin. Unbroken sunshine. I could live with this until the start of November.

no way , absolutely boring after a few days .

Artane2002

Oops69 wrote: »

no way , absolutely boring after a few days .

Cloudy is boring, rain causes traffic so im fine with this.

Gonzo

blue sunny skies every day from now till 1 November I'd have no issue with. Plenty of bbq's, garden beers, able to go for walks without checking the rain radar and enjoy the countryside. No getting wet, no grey skies, washing drys fast, nothing dismal. So many benefits to a dry sunny climate.

Artane2002

Speaking of drying, fantastic drying conditions today. I moved into this house last March and the shed always has a puddle on its roof. Today is one of the three occasions where I haven't seen a puddle on top of it, the other two were the dry spell before the Beast and the few days after the mini Beast.

Personally, I'll never get bored of blue skies or snow. I usually spend the majority of my summer on holidays around the Mediterranean and I never get tired of the blue skies and I'm treated to a few thunderstorms too. I didn't go abroad last year and to be fair, the summer was pretty decent. This year, I'm spending all of July in the Mediterranean, which is shorter than the usual two months.

On this day in 2012, I posted a screenshot from my phone on fb showing the temp as 18 degrees and sunny.
Beautiful day here, sunny and warm enough for a t-shirt while power hosing the patio.

sryanbruen

https://twitter.com/Forecas55175638/status/977534202282463237

Donegal Storm

Deleted User wrote: »

On this day in 2012, I posted a screenshot from my phone on fb showing the temp as 18 degrees and sunny.
Beautiful day here, sunny and warm enough for a t-shirt while power hosing the patio.

That was an amazing week, proper clear cloudless skies for about 5 days in a row with temperatures near 20C. It felt so much hotter as well with it being the first blast of warmth so early in the year.


Nice day today though I ran into a really heavy shower around Carrick-on-Shannon with nice big thundery drops splattering on the windscreen. First signs of convection perhaps?

Oscar Bravo

Beautiful sunny morning here in Castlebar. Looking forward to the nice long evening this evening.

Clonmel1000

Nice morning here to was put for a run earlier and once the fog cleared it was very pleasant.

Oneiric 3

Pretty notable cool down in Atlantic temps over the last week. Actually anomalies at the moment:



A small taster of the AMO flip, which is predicted to take place sometime during the 2020s perhaps?

Xenji

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

Beautiful sunny morning here in Castlebar. Looking forward to the nice long evening this evening.

Shame it did not last long, dull and wet now, yesterday was a fantastic day though.

Say my name

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Pretty notable cool down in Atlantic temps over the last week. Actually anomalies at the moment:



A small taster of the AMO flip, which is predicted to take place sometime during the 2020s perhaps?

All we want now is for Enso to just go on the positive side of neutral coupled with this AMO and then we have a drought in Ireland.

sryanbruen

I want El Nino Modoki please.