Spring 2020 - General Discussion

Gonzo

the real issue with last summer was it was a terrific summer everywhere except Ireland. Summer started off poor through much of north-western Europe with a poor June. The last week of June brought a big improvement particularly to the continent and the UK. We had that push of very warm uppers which failed spectacularly to heat Ireland due to a chilly onshore easterly wind in the final days of June.

July was very hot throughout most of Europe and the UK enjoyed several very hot plumes up from Spain and Africa which Ireland completely missed out on. July in Ireland was half decent and was the best month of the summer, it was warm but not overly warm with temperatures in the high teens, low twenties most of the time with spells of sunshine, but certainly no plumes or heatwaves for us. Meanwhile large parts of the UK and even Scotland was hitting high 20s, low 30's regularly at this point.

The Atlantic continued to bite away at western Ireland, Donegal in particular had a poor July with misty rain and low cloud for much of the month and was quite cool. A far cry from the relentless heat throughout much of the UK and Europe.

August broken down the settled conditions of July with lots and lots of rain. Well over 150mm of rain fell throughout most of Ireland in August with over 200mm in western Ireland. August was quite cool in the west while the east hanged onto slightly warmer air but it was still overall very wet. The UK continued it's mostly hot and dry summer, particularly the south-eastern part of England and parts of Wales. The heat broken down in western UK and Scotland, but they were still nowhere as wet or as cool as we were. I don't remember the UK getting much rain in August, while Ireland was seeing the start of the deluges, a sign of things to come for the next 7 months.

compsys

Slashermcguirk wrote: »

Not true, Phoenix park has regularly been the warmest location in Ireland recently looking at all met eireann stations across the country.

Only very recently - April to early May barely got much above 15 or 16 degrees most days. We'd beautiful clear skies and no rain but away from sheltered gardens it wasn't that warm and on many days we were a good 5 or 6 degree cooler than the west.

The past week things have warmed up alright.

sryanbruen

The UK did actually have a very wet August Gonzo, one of the wettest on record in Scotland.

Gonzo

sryanbruen wrote: »

The UK did actually have a very wet August Gonzo, one of the wettest on record in Scotland.

What about south-eastern England, I seem to remember them having lots of great weather well into August. Hopefully we break the trend here this year with a lovely August, I think 2003 was the last time we had a decent August?

Clonmel1000

Stubbornly cloudy here all day. It’s humid all right but just no sun. Disappointing overall.

compsys

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

I use that benchmark because Dublin did not surpass it during that month, yet you seem to think it was a terrible month, but the huge amounts we had in the west during the 2nd half of that season somehow equals an OK summer (from your point of view)

> 100mm in a month is not exactly a huge amount of rain for any part of Ireland regardless of whether it is above average or not, and that just isn't me saying that from a western perspective, because our average June and July average totals here are barely any higher than those in the east.

Ah come on, seriously? 100mm is a large amount of rain for Dublin.

From 2017 until this month (41 months in total) Dublin surpassed 100mm only four times. Just under once a year.

Oneiric 3

Slashermcguirk wrote: »

Not true, Phoenix park has regularly been the warmest location in Ireland recently looking at all met eireann stations across the country.

In terms of mean maxima for this May so far, PP is the 2nd warmest of all the reporting stations, while Mt. Dillon comes up tops, while Malin Hd is doing pretty poorly in comparison. Interestingly, Mt. Dillon also has the coolest mean minima of all the stations this month also.

sryanbruen

Gonzo wrote: »

What about south-eastern England, I seem to remember them having lots of great weather well into August. Hopefully we break the trend here this year with a lovely August, I think 2003 was the last time we had a decent August?

Yeah, it was relatively dry there. They even had it wetter in August 2018 than 2019! Reaffirms your point really. Every "ok" August since 2003 has been lacking in one capacity I feel. 2010 whilst dry and sunny lacked the temperatures, 2016 whilst warm and not overly dry lacked the sunshine etc.

Don't want to dwell on it too much but for interest, you can find individual UK regions stats here: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-and-regional-series

You can also find monthly and seasonal anomaly maps at https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-actual-and-anomaly-maps

Slashermcguirk

I agree over 100mm in a month is very rare in Dublin. There was only 660mm of rain in the whole year in Dublin in 2018!

compsys wrote: »

Ah come on, seriously? 100mm is a large amount of rain for Dublin.

From 2017 until this month (41 months in total) Dublin surpassed 100mm only four times. Just under once a year.

compsys

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

In terms of mean maxima for this May so far, PP is the 2nd warmest of all the reporting stations, while Mt. Dillon comes up tops, while Malin Hd is doing pretty poorly in comparison. Interestingly, Mt. Dillon also has the coolest mean minima of all the stations this month also.

With Mount Dillion being an inland location and slightly raised (I think) that wouldn't be unexpected for May though, no?

Oneiric 3

compsys wrote: »

Ah come on, seriously? 100mm is a large amount of rain for Dublin.

If that is the case, then it is a large amount for here too, given, like I said, our average summer totals (June and July at least) are barely any higher than yours.

Oneiric 3

compsys wrote: »

With Mount Dillion being an inland location and slightly raised (I think) that wouldn't be unexpected for May though, no?

Probably not, but note that Dublin Apt, which isn't an inland (in the real sense of the word) location, has the 2nd lowest mean minima this month, Interestingly, there is a wider gap between D.A's mean minima and that of Casement's (a full 1.0c) than there is between those of D.A & Mt. Dillon (just 0.2c)

compsys

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

If that is the case, then it is a large amount for here too, given, like I said, our average summer totals (June and July at least) are barely any higher than yours.

Where are you based?

I did say there was a big East/West split for last summer btw.

I do honestly think July was far better than people remember.

However I can understand why people further West would think August was very poor too.

compsys

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Probably not, but note that Dublin Apt, which isn't an inland (in the real sense of the word) location, has the 2nd lowest mean minima this month, Interestingly, there is a wider gap between D.A's mean minima and that of Casement's (a full 1.0c) than there is between those of D.A & Mt. Dillon (just 0.2c)

Yeah, DA posts some really low overnight temps for a station that's so close to the coast. I actually started a thread on it a few years ago and people gave some interesting theories as to why - but no one could agree on why it was.

Like it's highly unusual that a station which is kept so cool by the sea breeze during the day then often posts among the lowest or second lowest temps at night.

The low overnight temps almost always happen on very clear, calm nights.

Oneiric 3

compsys wrote: »

Where are you based?

Galway, just like is says in every single one of my posts

sryanbruen

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Galway, just like is says in every single one of my posts

The signature does not appear for me ever since GDPR came into effect.

Oneiric 3

compsys wrote: »

Yeah, DA posts some really low overnight temps for a station that's so close to the coast. I actually started a thread on it a few years ago and people gave some interesting theories as to why - but no one could agree on why it was.

Like it's highly unusual that a station which is kept so cool by the sea breeze during the day then often posts among the lowest or second lowest temps at night.

The low overnight temps almost always happen on very clear, calm nights.

It's all the more unusual given that much of this month has had winds (and rather stiff winds at that) from an easterly quarter, which you would think would keep D.A min temps rather moderated in comparison to other places.

Edit: Sorry but I have to ask Syran, but what is GDPR?

Gonzo

mostly sunny day here at Dunshaughlin, had some stubborn cloud around lunchtime which cleared about an hour ago and it is now feeling very warm indeed, humidity is really increasing too can really feel the heat in that sun now. Currently 20C but feels more like 23 or 24C.

JCX BXC

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

what is GDPR?

Have you been living under a rock!

US2

JCX BXC wrote: »

Have you been living under a rock!

That would explain how he didnt notice all the rain last summer .

Kermit.de.frog

Mid twenties for quite a few come Thursday

Gonzo

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Mid twenties for quite a few come Thursday

The start of possibly a prolonged break from the Atlantic. Looks very warm over the next 5 to 6 days. Possibility of a cold outbreak from Nordic regions into the first week of June then the Azores high builds back. No sign of the Atlantic over the next 14 days, if we miss out on the cold northerly we will just stay warm and dry. Interesting times ahead.

compsys

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Galway, just like is says in every single one of my posts

Your location doesn’t appear for me on my mobile.

But Galway would deffo have had a far poorer summer last year than Dublin.

Ps: how have you not heard of GDPR!?

Oneiric 3

compsys wrote: »

Ps: how have you not heard of GDPR!?

Is this what it is?
https://gdpr-info.eu/

If so, then I am proud to have not heard of it. Still not sure though why that should prevent anyone from seeing a simple signature on forum such as this...not that it matters anyway.

Thelonious Monk

Pretty chilly in Dublin this evening

John.Icy

Turned into a disappointing day in Dublin, clouded back over after my last check in at ~3-4pm. Seemed to be close to the northern limit of the cloud as the sky to my north stayed quiet clear. Hoping tomorrow is a better day - though I worry this is going to be a rather cloudy spell of ''fine weather''. Met Eireann mention cloud and haziness for much of the next few days for some areas.

ninebeanrows

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Mid twenties for quite a few come Thursday

Harmonie has sea breeze pegging temps to 14-16 in coastal Dublin Thursday, max temp of 29 in Roscommon

compsys

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

Harmonie has sea breeze pegging temps to 14-16 in coastal Dublin Thursday, max temp of 29 in Roscommon

Yeah, my fear is that the sea breeze is gonna kick in for Dublin. Along the extreme coast at least.

I think we could struggle to get much past 20 degrees in the capital over the next few days. Still not bad at all for late May. But 14 degrees or so would be a disaster imo. It would put paid to my planned beach days on Friday and Saturday too!

Gonzo

GFS is toying with the idea of some light rain or drizzle in the west on Friday, chances of this are fairly slim and it would be late on in the evening.



it is also hinting at possibly a spell of rain across the western half of the country on Saturday afternoon/evening with the north-west getting the bulk of rainfall into Saturday night, again I think this is a low risk.





None of the other models are going for this.

Icon brings some rain close to the west on Saturday but it then retreats back out into the Atlantic.

Meteorite58

Beautiful evening here in Kerry, great weather for drawing in the silage.

Pic 21.00