Winter 2019/2020 - General Discussion

Oscar Bravo

Status Yellow - Wind warning for Donegal, Galway and Mayo

Southerly winds gradually veering westerly during Tuesday will reach mean speeds of 50 to 65km/h with gusts of 90 to 110km/h, strongest near coasts and about high ground.

Valid: 01:00 Tuesday 07/01/2020 to 20:00 Tuesday 07/01/2020

Issued: 15:00 Monday 06/01/2020

Status: YellowWind warning for Dublin, Kildare, Longford, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, Offaly, Westmeath, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo

Southerly winds gradually veering westerly will reach mean speeds of 50 to 65km/h with gusts of 90 to 100km/h at times during Tuesday.

Valid: 06:00 Tuesday 07/01/2020 to 20:00 Tuesday 07/01/2020

Issued: 15:00 Monday 06/01/2020

sryanbruen

Met Éireann confirmed that Winter 2018-19 was the mildest winter on record for the country back to 1900 slightly beating 1988-89. Also said February 2019 was second mildest February.

https://www.met.ie/long-series-record-climate-of-ireland

Winter mean temperature anomalies for Ireland for every year since 1900-01 up to 2018-19 (against 1961-90 for some reason but still a useful chart). Against 1961-90, 2008-09 was actually slightly above average (barely a deviation though) and can see how much 2009-10 and 2010-11 stand out especially in modern times.

Kermit.de.frog

Tentative risk of some ninja snow inland and on higher ground later Wednesday night and in to Thursday morning.

Looks like Ulster, inland Leinster and parts of Munster most of at risk.

A little bit of uncertainty as to the exact risk areas for now but it's something to keep an eye on.

littlema

Do you want to go a lovely shade of yellow.....
For the Met E warning that’s in it ??

Gonzo

sryanbruen wrote: »

Met reann confirmed that Winter 2018-19 was the mildest winter on record for the country back to 1900 slightly beating 1988-89. Also said February 2019 was second mildest February.

https://www.met.ie/long-series-record-climate-of-ireland

Winter mean temperature anomalies for Ireland for every year since 1900-01 up to 2018-19 (against 1961-90 for some reason but still a useful chart). Against 1961-90, 2008-09 was actually slightly above average (barely a deviation though) and can see how much 2009-10 and 2010-11 stand out especially in modern times.

that graph really sums up how poor we have it for winters in Ireland over the past 25 years. The 60s, 70s and 80s had their fair share of decent winters, it almost looks like very 2nd or 3rd winter is a cold one. In the 80s when I was a child, most of the winters we're cold and often produced spells of snow. I thought this was the normal Irish winter during my school years. 1991 was my final year in school, and also the last of the fairly frequent cold winters. Since 1991 there really has been only one stand out winter and that is of course 2010. There were a few snowy moments between 1991 and 2008 but nothing too major. For some reason I don't remember 2011 being particularly cold or snowy. The Beast From The East/Storm Emma was more of a spring event than winter event.

If this graph is something to go by, we could be waiting a while yet for another decent cold and snowy winter but we're already 10 years waiting for another one, so hopefully we strike gold either next winter or the winter after that.

sryanbruen

Gonzo wrote: »

that graph really sums up how poor we have it for winters in Ireland over the past 25 years. The 60s, 70s and 80s had their fair share of decent winters, it almost looks like very 2nd or 3rd winter is a cold one. In the 80s when I was a child, most of the winters we're cold and often produced spells of snow. I thought this was the normal Irish winter during my school years. 1991 was my final year in school, and also the last of the fairly frequent cold winters. Since 1991 there really has been only one stand out winter and that is of course 2010. There were a few snowy moments between 1991 and 2008 but nothing too major. For some reason I don't remember 2011 being particularly cold or snowy. The Beast From The East/Storm Emma was more of a spring event than winter event.

If this graph is something to go by, we could be waiting a while yet for another decent cold and snowy winter but we're already 10 years waiting for another one, so hopefully we strike gold either next winter or the winter after that.

Winter 2010-11 comprises of December 2010, January and February 2011. No need to describe December as everybody knows. January was quite cold too but it was more frosty cold and not as cold as the previous January. February was very mild but it wasn't mild enough to offset the extreme nature of December in terms of the mean temperatures so is why 2010-11 looks quite significantly below average.

I thought snow was the norm for winter after observing weather in 2009-10 but oh how wrong I was and 2019 being my final school year, our weather experiences couldn't be more different.

Derekon2009

Gonzo wrote: »

that graph really sums up how poor we have it for winters in Ireland over the past 25 years. The 60s, 70s and 80s had their fair share of decent winters, it almost looks like very 2nd or 3rd winter is a cold one. In the 80s when I was a child, most of the winters we're cold and often produced spells of snow. I thought this was the normal Irish winter during my school years. 1991 was my final year in school, and also the last of the fairly frequent cold winters. Since 1991 there really has been only one stand out winter and that is of course 2010. There were a few snowy moments between 1991 and 2008 but nothing too major. For some reason I don't remember 2011 being particularly cold or snowy. The Beast From The East/Storm Emma was more of a spring event than winter event.

If this graph is something to go by, we could be waiting a while yet for another decent cold and snowy winter but we're already 10 years waiting for another one, so hopefully we strike gold either next winter or the winter after that.

I fully agree ....1991 seemed to mark the end of those cold winters, particularly in Leinster.

Gonzo, I remember MT saying that a “big” winter was imminent in the timeframe 2019-2021.....as 2019 was a write off and this winter to date hasn’t been great, might winter 2020-2021 be the “big one”? MT, please correct me if I’m wrong!

D

DOCARCH

Derekon2009 wrote: »

....as 2019 was a write off and this winter to date hasn’t been great.

Still time to go before writing off this winter. IIRC, 'winter' 1947 did not get going until the 3rd week/end of January 1947. December 1946 and early/mid January 1947 were mild.

appledrop

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

RTE saying 15c tomorrow for Dublin. In January! Mad to think it struggled to get over 10c or so well into June 2019.
Went for a lovely hike on Saturday in Wicklow, and the Sunday before Xmas, actually feels warm once you're walking for a while.
For me "summer" is the most disappointing period in Irish weather as I love the sun and warmth so much but you're just continually let down with constant cloud and wind and rain during those months. It's definitely the worst time of year for me weatherwise.

I 100% agree with you. We managed to have lots of family days out over Christmas + everyone we meet was so delighted with how mild it was for December. It really made peoples day. To have mild, dry weather in depths of winter is a bonus + you feel like for once Ireland gets it right on weather front.

In contrast every summer you have such high expectations that your going to have loads of days at beach, loads if barbecue etc + then your devastated when it's so bad. June last year was shocking cold. The only summer that has lived up to expectation was 2018. That really was like living the dream in Ireland. Weeks + weeks of hot dry weather + yet armageddon warnings about water shortage yet we have one of highest rainfall levels in Europe. Yes we had a dry spell but about 3 times rainfall levels in Nov so all balanced out!

Gonzo

Derekon2009 wrote: »

I fully agree ....1991 seemed to mark the end of those cold winters, particularly in Leinster.

Gonzo, I remember MT saying that a “big” winter was imminent in the timeframe 2019-2021.....as 2019 was a write off and this winter to date hasn’t been great, might winter 2020-2021 be the “big one”? MT, please correct me if I’m wrong!

D

The funny thing is over the past 10-15 years I kept thinking to myself just how much better and snowier the winters were during the 80s. I kept thinking maybe it was just childhood memories where every day away from school due to snow and ice was a big thing. Almost every winter our school would close at least once for a minimum of 2 or 3 days due to either snow or frozen pipes.

I knew I wasn't going to school when I would wake up in the morning and my bedroom window would be glazed in ice with millions of tiny patterns. I would then run outside, fill a bucket of water and throw it on the ground to see it turn to ice within seconds.

But the graph linked above, proofs that it was real. It wasn't just some vague childhood memories that became more of a dream as the winters became mild one after another.

I really did see more frost/ice/snow and blizzards between 1980 and 1991 then I ever did between 1992 and 2020. If it wasn't for 2010 and the Beast, there would be nothing memorable since 1991, so I'm glad we have those.

You are also right about easterlies in winter becoming far more rare, we used to get these regularly, but now we are lucky to see one every 10 years. No wonder we fail to get any lying snow most winters.

Gonzo

and speaking of snow, there is a very small possibility we may see some brief transitional wintryness on Thursday morning: most likely to be sleet rather than snow.



Arpege, keeps it to highest of peaks only.




Thursday looks chilly enough:

appledrop

I must be one of the few people who absolutely dreads the thought of snow! I hate it. I'll never forgot the amount of driving I had to do in winter of 2010. I was a nervous wreck. We just aren't equipped for that type of weather in Ireland.

The only year I enjoyed it was 2017 but only because it was declared a red weather warning so no work or driving for 3 days now that was brilliant!

Cork Boy 53

appledrop wrote: »

I must be one of the few people who absolutely dreads the thought of snow! I hate it. I'll never forgot the amount of driving I had to do in winter of 2010. I was a nervous wreck. We just aren't equipped for that type of weather in Ireland.

The only year I enjoyed it was 2017 but only because it was declared a red weather warning so no work or driving for 3 days now that was brilliant!

Nobody or at least very few were prepared for what we experienced in 2010. It will be a long time before we have anything close to it in mid winter anyway. Beast from the East/Storm Emma happened in 2018 BTW.

Thelonious Monk

I always get confused with those 2 winters. I think the 2009/2010 one I was out on New Year's Eve and had to walk home from town as it had started snowing and didn't get a taxi. Then it was January was quite snowy? I remember later that year I wasn't able to get a flight to London in like November/December because of heavy snow.
Which winter did we get the most snow? One of them was just ridiculous in Dublin, and so cold. I got pretty tired of it pretty quickly!

sryanbruen

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I always get confused with those 2 winters. I think the 2009/2010 one I was out on New Year's Eve and had to walk home from town as it had started snowing and didn't get a taxi. Then it was January was quite snowy? I remember later that year I wasn't able to get a flight to London in like November/December because of heavy snow.
Which winter did we get the most snow? One of them was just ridiculous in Dublin, and so cold. I got pretty tired of it pretty quickly!

November/December 2010 were more extreme and had higher accumulations in Dublin. December was the coldest of any month on record for Dublin stations besides Phoenix Park which had its coldest month since January 1881. Whilst the cold was more extreme, it tended to go away after St. Stephen’s Day although as I mention, January 2011 was still colder than average with severe frosts from time to time.

Winter 2009-10 was the coldest winter since 1978-79 or 1962-63 and featured the longest cold spell since 1963 lasting from mid-December to mid-January with only one slight disruption to the south from 26th to 30th December. It was more persistent cold than the extreme cold seen in the following December although it did get quite severe in early January. December to March were all colder than average and even continued into April or May with frosts though these months were warmer due to some mild or warm spells offsetting the cold. There was not much individual heavy snow events but quite frequent light falls - of course some exceptions but talking general. What made this disastrous too was how the floods from the record November 2009 rainfalls froze from the cold temperatures.

Donegal Storm

Another miserable, dark, wet morning in Letterkenny, no real stretch in mornings or evenings evident yet.

With this winter increasingly looking like a complete write off I'm just looking forward to some brighter days again now

Oneiric 3

Some pretty loud thunder here at the moment. Lightning quite bright. Wasn't expecting this.

Mortelaro

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Some pretty loud thunder here at the moment. Lightning quite bright. Wasn't expecting this.

Doc posted earlier about strikes off the west coast in the convection thread

SleetAndSnow

Heavy drizzle all morning in cork city. Mild enough but there is a bit of a breeze.

Oneiric 3

Since that ninja storm passed over earlier, a sickly, humid warmth has set in and it has also become alarmingly windy. Making quite the racket out there now.

Thelonious Monk

It's lovely out, feels like a typical July day in Dublin

Oscar Bravo

Midday

Belmullet gusting 53 knots

Oscar Bravo

A rather bleak and Stormy Mayo coast this afternoon

Graces7

Cannot open the door to get out safely out here. Vicious winds that take no arguments.

Even the cat refused out. :eek: Took one look and went into reverse.

Unwell so just a quick post; a day like few others after a night of deluges hurled against the windows.

Not been to look at the ocean at the back.

Happy Orthodox Christmas Day!

Hibernating ..

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

A rather bleak and Stormy Mayo coast this afternoon

Kutebride

Dublin 2 was well mild on my 8am run.

Sunny, windy and dry afternoon. The old rolling dark cloud.

Goldfinch8

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

A rather bleak and Stormy Mayo coast this afternoon

Definitely a rough and wild day in these parts today with little let up in the wind but in the bit of a clearance this evening there is definitely a sense of the daylight clawing back a couple of minutes even this early in January.

Oscar Bravo

Goldfinch8 wrote: »

Definitely a rough and wild day in these parts today with little let up in the wind but in the bit of a clearance this evening there is definitely a sense of the daylight clawing back a couple of minutes even this early in January.

Yep. Still blue in the sky out to the west at 5.30. Good to see!

pad199207

The warmest it’s been all day here now at 13c

Hooter23

Very windy in Galway...I like this weather better than quite boring weather anyway...and more to come into next week

SeaBreezes

Miserable grey misty day on the south coast. No wind. No sun either :-(