Storm Brendan Monday 13 Jan 2020 ** See Mod note in OP before posting**

Meteorite58

Just quick thoughts on the performance from the models . I think in general the French models did quite well, probably the best at the closest range. ECM are probably the best the furthest out and a good lead up to the event but the available maps are not refined enough for fine detail.

All the models over estimated the wind speeds some bit I think but the American were quite good. ECM surprising overestimated quite a bit. ICON overestimated a fair bit as well. French and American models did the best overland but the French overestimated the speeds a bit more than the American. In saying that the available stations recording is quite limited and they dont reflect the winds in general over higher ground.

GFS / WRF can get bad press sometimes, I myself have not been it's biggest fan but close to the event I reckon it is quite good. Maybe the recent upgrades to the model have made some improvements.

So for me going forward ECM / GFS on the lead in , final estimates probably use GFS /WRF and ARPEGE / AROME ( and keep an eye on the others )

The models in general tend to overestimate the wind speeds overland by about 10 km/h or so I reckon but in saying that the gust charts are Max winds predicted so I suppose the skill is in interpreting the charts and making the adjustments oneself.

Personally I think from here I will try and do a bit of comparison of what has been predicted and what is actually recorded to refine the performance of the models a bit more.

JanuarySnowstor

Met Eireann did an excellent job all day.
They got this event spot on!!

Comhrá

Just watching the 9pm news on RTE, Brendan seems to have packed a fair punch right across the country. Anyone thinking the forecasts were overstated should think again. All in all a pretty significant winter storm even if not in the Darwin or Ophelia league

JanuarySnowstor

JanuarySnowstor wrote: »

Met Eireann did an excellent job all day.
They got this event spot on!!

I’d also like to say thank you to the esb too. Power went around 11am and they were out on the rural tree lined roads in the thick of the storm repairing the fault. Power back at 5:30

Storm 10

JanuarySnowstor wrote: »

Met Eireann did an excellent job all day.
They got this event spot on!!

Completely agree with you well done Met Eireann great call and also well done to MT who was spot on as well

M5

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IDONEGAL3

Serious sustained winds at this pws. Long periods of 80kph+

123654789

Well done to MT and Met Eireann. You'll never please everyone but this was certainly an Orange level for me, plenty action and damage. Apart from those weird sudden times where nothing happened and the sun shone.

Id have to say I started following storm threads for hard(ish) facts and info on my area. I'm loving Graces7's posts though, they're about a world unfamiliar and at times even scary to me. Grace I hope things are calm there at last, helluva long day I'd say!

Still waters

Nothing more than strong breezes here, i was able to work all day, i was kinda hoping for a day off but we seem lucky compared to some on here

pad199207

Yeah indeed a huge shout out to Met Eireann for calling this one dead on.

Even though personally for me it was the worst storm since Ophelia but wasn’t as bad as Ophelia. Also today showed how very important an Orange Level Wind Warning is and is never to be dissed.

Also a huge thanks to Michelle Dillon on her brilliant TV forecasts yesterday!

Pangea

Getting stormy now again here in Donegal, just when you think it's over it comes back.

Meteorite58

Meteorite58 wrote: »

Personally I think from here I will try and do a bit of comparison of what has been predicted and what is actually recorded to refine the performance of the models a bit more.

I would be very interested to see that. Thank you.

happyoutscan

Very stormy once again with heavy rain here in west Mayo.

Reati

M5 wrote: »

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IDONEGAL3

Serious sustained winds at this pws. Long periods of 80kph+

And a UV index of 5...?

Donegal Storm

Pangea wrote: »

Getting stormy now again here in Donegal, just when you think it's over it comes back.

Hasn't really let up here, when the showers hit its as bad as its been all day. Some nice big squalls all evening with heavy hail hammering off the windows

YFlyer

During windy days the gas power stations should cut back in generation instead of taken wind turbines energy out of the mix.

obi604

Graces7 wrote: »

Appalling out here and worsening all the time. Lights have flickered so clearly we are due a power cut ; exhausted and not well so closing down.

Stay safe please! All safe here. Has been a deeply dreadful day . Hoping tomorrow is A LOT better. Still several hours to go.

Don’t mean to be nosey etc but can you post a pic of the view out your window to give us an idea of your scenario. Just intrigued really.

Storm 10

Coastguard helicopter Rescue 115 just completing a tasking from the Aran Islands to UHG Galway in very windy conditions wonderful service to have available when required

_Whimsical_

Storm 10 wrote: »

Coastguard helicopter Rescue 115 just completing a tasking from the Aran Islands to UHG Galway in very windy conditions wonderful service to have available when required

Amazing! I have heard it overhead tonight. It has so incredibly wild I wondered how they were out in it. The really are heros. Hope the person involved recovers well.

Andrew00

Unbelievable flash of lightning in East Galway

gozunda

YFlyer wrote: »

During windy days the gas power stations should cut back in generation instead of taken wind turbines energy out of the mix.

During very high winds wind turbines may have to be turned off and blades faced out of the wind to prevent overloading and burn out the motors etc. This is one of the issues with wind powered generation and situating wind turbines in very exposed areas such as exposed upland areas.

gozunda

YFlyer wrote: »

During Storm Darwin a friend and I did 400m repeats downhill at the Castletroy Industrial Estate in Limerick with the wind behind our backs. Great speed work for the indoor season.

Some years ago whilst working near the most northerly point on the Island - I did 20+ plus mile commutes by road bike in the depths of winter with Iceland being the next nearest land mass. Cycling uphill against gale force winds in Baltic conditions made one fit for sure

M5

Reati wrote: »

And a UV index of 5...?

UV sensor might be off alright. The wind tallies with other stations in the area

uck51js9zml2yt

Meteorite58 wrote: »

What was the wind and rain like in your spot tatranska. Around Tralee reports of trees and ESB poles down, saw a guy in a cherry picker at 14.00 cutting a tree that had become dangerous or fallen against a building near the Brandon Hotel.

Some big hail showers in the late afternoon.

Most of the power out was S Kerry and Dingle it seems but a lot of it got re connected quickly.

Council reported lots of trees down around the county especially S Kerry but nothing too major it seems.

Tralee town was very quite today, very few around.

The perspex roof on my chicken run survived. I lost some panels in the winds we had early December, so altogether it was ok yesterday.

Doctors room ghost

Andrew00 wrote: »

Unbelievable flash of lightning in East Galway

Saw that and a dirty shower of hail came with it which stuck with temperature at 2c

car_radio19834

YFlyer wrote: »

During windy days the gas power stations should cut back in generation instead of taken wind turbines energy out of the mix.

Wind turbines have a maximum wind speed they can work in, if it goes above this they shut them down.

sideswipe

car_radio19834 wrote: »

Wind turbines have a maximum wind speed they can work in, if it goes above this they shut them down.

Yeah it can't be a case of the more wind the better, at a certain point it becomes too windy for wind turbines.

Macy0161

JanuarySnowstor wrote: »

Met Eireann did an excellent job all day.
They got this event spot on!!

Yep, definitely more damage and impact in Wicklow than a yellow level "event". Where I work in Dublin had damage and ingress not seen at yellow level either.

YFlyer

gozunda wrote: »

During very high winds wind turbines may have to be turned off and blades faced out of the wind to prevent overloading and burn out the motors etc. This is one of the issues with wind powered generation and situating wind turbines in very exposed areas such as exposed upland areas.

True when wind velocity is too high. They still get turned off at certain times of the day because other sources of electric generation is been utilised.

nigeldaniel

YFlyer wrote: »

True when wind velocity is too high. They still get turned off at certain times of the day because other sources of electric generation is been utilised.

I was thinking about this yesterday when I saw the wind farm up the road from me buzzing away furiously. I guess no one switched them off or something.

kippy

nigeldaniel wrote: »

I was thinking about this yesterday when I saw the wind farm up the road from me buzzing away furiously. I guess no one switched them off or something.

Every turbine has a different rating. Most commercials look to be designed to withstand far more wind speed than experienced anywhere yesterday.

"All wind turbines are designed for a maximum wind speed, called the survival speed, above which they will be damaged. The survival speed of commercial wind turbines is in the range of 40 m/s (144 km/h, 89 MPH) to 72 m/s (259 km/h, 161 MPH). The most common survival speed is 60 m/s (216 km/h, 134 MPH). Some have been designed to survive 80 metres per second (290 km/h; 180 mph).[4]"

From:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine_design