What a year of weather !!

M.T. Cranium

I was just thinking, from Ophelia's visit in mid-October of 2017 to the current heat wave, we have seen quite a year of weather in Ireland (and it's not even a year in total yet).

Perhaps I am forgetting a few other events, but certainly the cold spells in late February, the record snowfalls around 27 Feb to 1 Mar and now this heat wave threatening to set new records, all in one period of less than a year, rather unusual in total. I guess from Debbie (Sept 1961) to the winter of 1962-63 was not a lot longer interval but there was no notable heat wave anywhere in that time frame.

Would you consider any other events from August 2017 on to be worth including, since otherwise this year can collect more notoriety all the way to October 2018.

I think that windstorm where Knock had the 84 knot gust was rather unusual too, on 2 Jan if I remember right, then later in January came Frederike but that was more of a blast in eastern England and especially the Netherlands.

Harry Palmr

Chaotic, unexpected and extreme weather spells are probably going to become the norm.

Soft days are so 20th century.

Artane2002

It doesn't really count I guess but we had some very impressive fog here in Dublin around 10-11 January.

The northwesterlies during the winter were very good too. The number of frontal snowfall events during the winter was quite notable too, around 5 or 6 times I think?

JanuarySnowstor

An extra ordinary year as you say.
Hurricanes, snow storms and now a serious drought and heatwave.
For a country that normally sports a benign weather type (never too hot or cold) it's been truly remarkable.

Bay of biscay severe storms this weekend would be the icing!

Artane2002

I wonder if we'll see a notable tornado this year. I hope not because tornadoes scare me!!

Donegal Storm

The past few months have certainly been fascinating, obviously there was the late and extreme winter but the way we essentially skipped Spring and went straight from winter to summer was also interesting, from no growth and snow on the ground to everything in full bloom within a few weeks. There's probably been more clear sunny days since late April than in the past 5 years combined and an almost total lack of wet days.

Now if only we could get a massive slow moving supercell to travel across the country when this spell ends it'd cap things off nicely In my 30 odd years living here I've yet to see a truly impressive thunderstorm

MidMan25

JanuarySnowstor wrote: »

An extra ordinary year as you say.
Hurricanes, snow storms and now a serious drought and heatwave.
For a country that normally sports a benign weather type (never too hot or cold) it's been truly remarkable.

Bay of biscay severe storms this weekend would be the icing!

Got those last month in East Cork \ Waterford. Certainly the most significant and sustained thunderstorms I can recall in my lifetime.

Oneiric 3

Lightning storm earlier this month was the highlight for me this year. Hopefully just a taster of what is to come this summer.

sryanbruen

Some things that come to my mind:

- Longest spell of 20c+ days for late May/early June on record at Shannon Airport since its records began
- Lowest March/Spring maximum temperatures on record (at least that we know of) for Ireland (UK also beat their lowest March/Spring maximum temperature on record)
- Record breaking SSW event with two very severe zonal wind reversions taking place nearly simultaneously (many years we barely get one at all or to this severity)
- Ex-hurricane Gert bringing thundery rain to the north on 22nd August 2017 including 77.2mm at Malin Head
- Very good May Day Bank Holiday Weekend and the warmest early May Bank Holiday Monday on record in the UK (not sure for Ireland) (you can't say that often!)
- Constant lightning flashes on the night of May 26th/27th
- Mt Dillon recording 25mm under an hour in a thunderstorm on June 8th with a 9 degree drop in temperature during the period

pauldry

In Sligo

No Grass grew until May coz of cold
No grass has grown much since mid June
Notable storms especially all the ones that WERENT Ophelia or Emma
most recently Hector causing widespread power outages and downed trees
Long spell of days over 19c in late May and June
Only 2 wet days of over 15mm in the whole of May and nearly all of June

hatrickpatrick

Artane2002 wrote: »

I wonder if we'll see a notable tornado this year. I hope not because tornadoes scare me!!

I've always been utterly fascinated by tornadoes (anyone else watch the Nature's Rage videos from Readers Digest as a kid? ) but they now scare me a lot less than they used to. Not because they're any less dangerous or powerful, but because science has come so far since the 1990s. In both that RD documentary and the film Twister, also made in the mid-90s, the point is repeatedly made that tornadoes were so deadly in part because the average tornado warning was in the region of 3-5 minutes for a given location. NOAA now cites 13 minutes as the average, which is close to the "holy grail" of a 15 minute warning which is cited in both the documentary and film from the 90s.

It also feels like they're now able to give much broader, "macro" tornado forecasts, less in the sense of "A tornado is going to hit Cabra in the next twenty minutes" and more so "A dangerous supercell is forming over the Northwest inner city, we advise evacuation as tornadoes are a major likelihood throughout the day". That seems to be the approach taken in Tornado Alley in the US these days - they differentiate between a "tornado watch" and a "tornado warning", which is definitely a newer development.
I imagine the smartphone era also makes it a lot harder to miss or fail to notice a tornado warning - I don't know this, but I'd be incredibly surprised if there wasn't some kind of local message service in those regions which allows the local government or met office to beam urgent alerts directly to peoples' phones.

In short, tornadoes are still an extremely dangerous force of nature, but the "turn up suddenly and entirely unannounced" nature of them has diminished somewhat with modern science.

Jpmarn

End of a long tough winter and an early and possibly a long fine summer. Even with a summer windstorm Hector.

seamus

I really only pay attention to wind direction because it affects my cycle commute, but it seems to me that much of the extraordinary weather this year is being caused by easterlies. I've never seen a year with so many easterlies, so sustained. Usually it's a couple of days every 4 or 5 months.

Is this just a statistical blip, or could this signal a longer-term trend; some indefinite change in the N.Atlantic Drift?

Billcarson

The icing on the cake would be if we could get a white Xmas 2018.

hatrickpatrick

Billcarson wrote: »

The icing on the cake would be if we could get a white Xmas 2018.

I vote we start ramping the minute this heatwave is over

Tae laidir

No Spring. Straight from Winter to Summer.
Larger Continental Climatic influences at the expense of Temperate.
Long-lasting weather patterns.
Meandering Jet-Stream.

SleetAndSnow

The snow we had in Cork City this year was amazing, especially for us Younger generation who really haven't seen any proper snow down here. Really magical.

Also the lightning storm during May that lasted 3+ hours non stop was amazing. Stayed up all night watching it.

And of course Ophelia hit us hardest down South, Roofs flying off school halls and flying through the air, stadiums collapsing and stakes being flown through peoples roofs!

What a year its been alright.

Graces7

Donegal Storm wrote: »

The past few months have certainly been fascinating, obviously there was the late and extreme winter but the way we essentially skipped Spring and went straight from winter to summer was also interesting, from no growth and snow on the ground to everything in full bloom within a few weeks. There's probably been more clear sunny days since late April than in the past 5 years combined and an almost total lack of wet days.

Now if only we could get a massive slow moving supercell to travel across the country when this spell ends it'd cap things off nicely In my 30 odd years living here I've yet to see a truly impressive thunderstorm

Had a 72 hour one in Donegal some years ago..

Danzy

Billcarson wrote: »

The icing on the cake would be if we could get a white Xmas 2018.

It will be thirty in the shade this Christmas with foot of snow on St Stephens.

Donegal Storm

Graces7 wrote: »

Had a 72 hour one in Donegal some years ago..

When was that?

I remember a good one in the late 90's one summer with big forks across the sky and thunder that shook the house for about 2-3 hours. I was only a young fella back then though and more annoyed that I had to come home from the beach than trying to enjoy the storm.

Had a few good winter storms as well with big hail squalls and loud thunder but I've never seen a good continental style storm here with huge convection, shelf clouds and strobe lightning, hopefully some day...

Kermit.de.frog

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

I was just thinking, from Ophelia's visit in mid-October of 2017 to the current heat wave, we have seen quite a year of weather in Ireland (and it's not even a year in total yet).

Perhaps I am forgetting a few other events, but certainly the cold spells in late February, the record snowfalls around 27 Feb to 1 Mar and now this heat wave threatening to set new records, all in one period of less than a year, rather unusual in total. I guess from Debbie (Sept 1961) to the winter of 1962-63 was not a lot longer interval but there was no notable heat wave anywhere in that time frame.

Would you consider any other events from August 2017 on to be worth including, since otherwise this year can collect more notoriety all the way to October 2018.

I think that windstorm where Knock had the 84 knot gust was rather unusual too, on 2 Jan if I remember right, then later in January came Frederike but that was more of a blast in eastern England and especially the Netherlands.

MT - in terms of excitement and weather around the globe, could not have gone far wrong with Ireland the last 9 months.

Extraordinary. Even the British are jealous.

M.T. Cranium

You did really well with your early warning threads on the two biggest stories in 2018, can't recall without looking back how we started to track Ophelia. A good year for the weather forum too.

Mr.Crinklewood

Amy stats for the weather forum comparing June 2016 - June 2017 to June 2017 to now?

Eg posts, views, etc?

sryanbruen

Can we add unusually warm westerly to the list of weird weather for this year? :P

Mullaghteelin

At the least the east coast is finally getting some real heat. It would be nice if we had a few decent thunderstorms before the summer is out.

Slashermcguirk

east finally getting some real heat? It has been between 25 and 28 a lot this summer. Do you mean literally the east coast? I think Carlow has had over 30 degrees a few times as had Kilkenny, south east admittedly but still east. Phoenix park in Dublin has had quite a lot of days with between 25-28 degrees and Dublin Airport has had only 28mm of rain in nearly 3 months. I would say you could count on one hand when the phoenix park went under 20 the whole summer.

Lucreto

It has been a strange year for weather. Its like the jet stream didn't recover from the SSW event back in February.

Hopefully we get another really cold and snowy winter out of it before things return to normal.

Jpmarn

It is a year that doesn’t suit farmers at all. It is a year that robbed fodder off us. I could say that there was only two months of decent grass growth so far in 2018. In a normal year we should have about 5 months grass growth by now. Grass didn’t grow earlier this year because it was too cold and wet. It's not growing now because it is too dry and hot.

babi-hrse

Our wind is coming from the east no evaporated clouds coming from Europe's landmass whereas traditionally it came from the west picking up all the sea water and pissing it all down on the first landmass it saw as relief rain which always happened to be Ireland and Scotland.
Snow from Russia one could assume dry skies from Russia too.
Only hope is that the gulf stream does not change direction too or we will have penguins in cork

Calibos

Lucreto wrote: »

It has been a strange year for weather. Its like the jet stream didn't recover from the SSW event back in February.

Hopefully we get another really cold and snowy winter out of it before things return to normal.

Move over M.T. Cranium, Kermit de frog and SryanBruen, Calibos is in da house!!

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=106335523&postcount=1571

sryanbruen

Commentary from Siobhán Ryan (including an analysis of Ophelia) in the link below on the past year's exceptional weather.

Information to follow was included by Siobhán Ryan on Monday 16th October.

One year on from Ophelia, and what an exceptional 12 months it has proved to be.

https://www.met.ie/forecasters-commentary

M.T. Cranium

I've been active on this forum for about ten years now, here are the top eleven (was going with ten, but football on my mind for some reason) weather events that come to mind off the top of my head ... would be interested in hearing what I missed. I have them in chronological order rather than an order of significance.

(1) heavy rainfalls in the autumn of 2009 led to some severe flooding.

(2) early parts of 2010 had some severe cold spells.

(3) the epic cold and snow of late 2010 from about 23 November to 26 December.

(4) spring of 2011 was exceptionally warm.

(5) 2012 frustrated many with its continual near miss cold spells over Britain.

(6) 2013 had very unusual cold spells in March and to some extent delivered a bit of snow with them (in Waterford IIRC)

(7) summer 2013 brought a very warm July.

(8) storm Darwin in Feb 2014, the worst of a large number of storms that winter.

(9) record warmth in December 2015.

(10) Ophelia hit a year ago today (16 Oct 2017).

(11) The events of 2018 already discussed at length, suppose I would include the snowstorms around 1st of March in this list.

So what would you replace in my list, or add as co-equals? And is my memory as good as I hope it is, or did one or two of these happen in a different year?

Artane2002

For me, Storm Ali is probably a storm I'll never forget. I spent 7 hours on a bus for nothing, 3 hours going to the Ploughing, 1 hour waiting and another 3 hours back home. When we got off the bus in Tullamore, it was really fun getting blown into my friends and having to fight the wind the move forwards! Also, there were some really squally showers. I was on the bus and looking at the front I saw what looked like fog. It was a heavy horizontal rain shower that soaked one side of the bus while the other side was completely dry.

sryanbruen

Artane2002 wrote: »

For me, Storm Ali is probably a storm I'll never forget. I spent 7 hours on a bus for nothing, 3 hours going to the Ploughing, 1 hour waiting and another 3 hours back home. When we got off the bus, it was really fun getting blown into my friends and having to fight the wind the move forwards!

Same here, was such a fun and exciting day in school. Ali was a good class disruptor. I remember one particular class, there was a sudden very loud gust at the window and the teacher turned around with a face that's like "Jesus, what the hell was that?" :pac:. My favourite storm without a doubt that I can remember whilst Doris of February 2017 being second.

Other things not mentioned above may include:

- 24 October 2011 Dublin floods (or heavy rain in general from 22-25 October 2011)
- Unseasonably warm conditions in late March 2012; warmest March conditions in Ireland since 1965
- Very wet June in 2012
- Exceptionally dry September in 2014

Rikand

The Cold spell at the end of 2009/start of 2010 was worse than the year later for me.

The lake at Hodson bay in Lough Ree froze over so that we could hit golf balls out onto the lake. I'll never forget the sound of the balls as they bounced off the ice. We did it a few times in and around the Christmas period and it was so much fun. One day, the Athlone Sub Aqua club were practicing ice dives and re-emerged from the ice about 300 yards out into the lake. They encouraged us to hit golf balls at them and then slid around the ice trying to catch them as they approached. They then gathered up a few dozen balls and brought them back to us....... only for us to hit them out again

the cold spell at the end of 2010 did not freeze the lake for nearly as long or as far out. Only one or two days was it frozen enough for us to hit balls and even then, the balls were breaking through the ice as they landed on occasion.

I think the second spell lasts in the memory longer as it was more recent, but the first spell was bitterly cold.

Athlone golf club closed early in Autumn because the flooding was so severe it rose the levels of the lake to record highs. And as soon as the rains subsided, the cold hit. We had no golf for 4-5 months that winter between that autumn/winter. (which would be unheard of for Athlone as the drainage is typically excellent and it rarely closes for rain events)

This golf related story is especially for you M.T as I know you play

Donegal Storm

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

I've been active on this forum for about ten years now, here are the top eleven (was going with ten, but football on my mind for some reason) weather events that come to mind off the top of my head ... would be interested in hearing what I missed. I have them in chronological order rather than an order of significance.

(4) spring of 2011 was exceptionally warm.

That's one that seems to be rarely talked about anymore but one of my lasting weather memories. We had the worst wildfires in living memory in Donegal in April 2011 fanned by strong easterlies with vast areas scarred black for months. I remember driving through the hills afterwards and the whole landscape was smoking and black as far as the eye could see, really surreal.

Can't seem to find many pics online anymore but found a report on it here

http://www.iffpa.ie/Sectors/IFFPA/IFFPA.nsf/vPages/Information_Resources~presentations:-forest-fires-in-ireland---impact-on-industry,-the-environment-and-the-emergency-services-10-02-2012/$file/Experience%20of%20the%20Fire%20Service%20in%20Dealing%20with%20Forest%20Fires%20-%20Bob%20McMenamin.pdf

piplip87

Christmas day 2010 . They had to break the ice for the swim with a hi Mac. After the swim half the twin including aules in their 70s walking on Lough Ramor was magical. Something we would have heard about growing up was the lake becoming an ice rink during severe cold spells

nacho libre

The heavy rain in November 2009. There were roads flooded that I had never seen flooded before. Of course December 2010 too. I remember watching each BBC forecast in the week before the second cold outbreak- i was afraid something might go wrong, so it was reassuring when the forecast stayed the same as it got closer to the 16th. Also i will never forget M.T. Cranium's comments about how the rain would quickly change to snow on the evening of the 16th, and begin to stick, readily! So it neatly demonstrated that no matter how saturated the ground is, if the air temperature goes low enough the snow will stick!

Graces7

Heatwave? Have I missed something? Decidedly chilly here. west mayo offshore island

and no more storms please... too old for all this

cyclops999

Rikand wrote: »

The Cold spell at the end of 2009/start of 2010 was worse than the year later for me.

The lake at Hodson bay in Lough Ree froze over so that we could hit golf balls out onto the lake. I'll never forget the sound of the balls as they bounced off the ice. We did it a few times in and around the Christmas period and it was so much fun. One day, the Athlone Sub Aqua club were practicing ice dives and re-emerged from the ice about 300 yards out into the lake. They encouraged us to hit golf balls at them and then slid around the ice trying to catch them as they approached. They then gathered up a few dozen balls and brought them back to us....... only for us to hit them out again

the cold spell at the end of 2010 did not freeze the lake for nearly as long or as far out. Only one or two days was it frozen enough for us to hit balls and even then, the balls were breaking through the ice as they landed on occasion.

I think the second spell lasts in the memory longer as it was more recent, but the first spell was bitterly cold.

Athlone golf club closed early in Autumn because the flooding was so severe it rose the levels of the lake to record highs. And as soon as the rains subsided, the cold hit. We had no golf for 4-5 months that winter between that autumn/winter. (which would be unheard of for Athlone as the drainage is typically excellent and it rarely closes for rain events)

This golf related story is especially for you M.T as I know you play

Seen the Shannon freeze at Lough Ree, have seen it flood to its highest in Athlone & looking at the Shannon today I have never seen water levels so low for this time of year

Chris_5339762

Christmas Eve Storms 2007, which simultaneously ruined Christmas down south but yet brought about more community spirit than I've ever seen. Especially the family with the gas oven who basically had a queue of turkeys to cook for the entire community over the few days!

Artane2002

Here are my ratings for 2018:

January - 8/10
February - 10/10
March - 10/10
April - 4/10
May - 9/10
June - 10/10
August - 4/10
September - 10/10 Probably too generous
October - 10/10
November - 2/10 only because of the very start, would have been a zero if the first few days weren't as nice
December - 0/10 what a disgusting month!

sryanbruen

Artane2002 wrote: »

Here are my ratings for 2018:

January - 8/10
February - 10/10
March - 10/10
April - 4/10
May - 9/10
June - 10/10
August - 4/10
September - 10/10 Probably too generous
October - 10/10
November - 2/10 only because of the very start
December - 0/10 what a disgusting month!

Yeah, loved September here but 10/10 is very generous. Here's mine:

January - 6/10
February - 9/10
March - 5/10
April - 4/10
May - 7/10
June - 10/10
July - 7/10
August - 3/10
September - 7/10
October - 9/10
November - 3/10
December - 2/10

High points: February, June and October.
Low points: August (not terrible but very boring and disappointing), November and December.

SleetAndSnow

here would be my ratings:
January - 6/10
February - 10/10 - Snow was the best we have seen in Cork in years
March - 7/10 - for the first few days
April - 4/10
May - 9/10 - Thunderstorm was amazing
June - 10/10 - Heatwave
July - 7/10
August - 3/10
September - 7/10
October - 9/10
November - 2.5/10 - wet
December - 0/10 - been grey skies and damp here basically every day

M.T. Cranium

December had weather geeks flocking to the Accounting forum for a bit of excitement.

sryanbruen

Some more to add to the list of events for the previous decade:

- 24 September 2012 flooding rains (deepest September storm since 1981 too)
- February 2019 record warmth
- Extremely wet March 2019
- Warm Easter 2019

Graces7

I woke in the night last week, as one does, to bitter disappointment. I NEVER GOT TO BUILD MY SNOWMAN. Lay in the dark and almost wept... The ocean hates letting snow land.

Last summer for me was.... I live in what is an aluminium box ( aka demountable dwelling)l ferociously insulated against cold, but one way. Mentally apologised for thinking prickly heat was trivial; took much of the winter to heal . Dreading a repeat of that. Middle range is fine.. please..... lol.. as if any of us could change what comes1

and gales galore! Ophelia slipped sideways at Clare ( prayer power) but the others... folk here laughed Callum off as it hit the west coast most. as did some of the others. They needed to see the road at belmullet, smashed to bits
Names elude me .. but one I got poopoohed at for saying the worst out here for years was just that, affirmed by islanders . skilled now at keeping food stocks in etc... as I was when I came here from the North sea, with the memory of 124 miles an hour gales. the day I left there was a gale and no ferry and the small plane vanished off the radar then managed to get in.

I did after all move here to get some sun on my old bones...

Extremes! Many this last year.. we shall see. yes we shall see. Please God I get to make a snowman NEXT winter.. if I last that long!

Whatever, enjoy! my way now is a gentle walk to the ocean before full light.. wonderful skies... will take photos if I remember... just awesome..

Oh would someone get this one to show.. it is the gable end hand built 150 year old stone wall of the old roofless cowshed here. all the rocks carried up from the shore and placed carefully... never a flicker in all the gales... That is how we need to be out here.. Battered but unbowed and they knew what the gales were.

trying again for file/photo

Gonzo

so far 2019 is shaping up to be a horror show (at least for me).

my scores so far for this year:

January (0/10)
February (3/10), 3 points for the unseasonal summer conditions which was very nice, despite the non existence of winter.
March (0/10), if I could give a minus score I would.
April (4/10), those 4 points go to the Easter 4 day warm spell.
May (1/10), cold month, unsettled first and last week, 1 point for the cool to mild, dry spell.

So far a total contrast to 2018 up to this point. I really hope the rest of 2019 fares a bit better, particularly this summer and winter. If July and August are decent, then i'm happy enough to put up with a poor June.

pauldry

Apart from Heavy snow at the end of January and drier than normal months and a record wet March 2019 has been pretty uneventful up the Northwest.

Graces7

pauldry wrote: »

Apart from Heavy snow at the end of January and drier than normal months and a record wet March 2019 has been pretty uneventful up the Northwest.

I had not realised being offshore would make such a difference .. it does