Spring 2023 - General Discussion

pad199207

An absolute peach of a day in Kildare

Dazler97

Today's highs

Cluedo Monopoly

The sunsets lately are just fabulous.

Meteorite58

What a great spell of weather closing out Spring 2023 with the Anticyclone center close by, nice footage from the ISS today passing over Southern Ireland.

https://twitter.com/ISSAboveYou/status/1663609931004776448?s=20

NASA's EOSDIS from today

Birdnuts

That 20C in Belmullet was reached in late morning cos after that the wind switched from E to NE and increased to a steady 18kts, which was multiple times higher then any other Mayo Met station with the same pattern occuring for several day now:(. Hope it buggers off by the WE cos I fancy an early sea swim;)

pad199207

Beaut of a morning. Not a cloud

pauldry

Wary of those clouds to the North and East but Met Eireann aren't but they do mention Ulster as being cloudier. Hope theyr not lumping Sligo in with Ulster though I'd imagine by weekend it will be cloudier but still very warm hopefully. None of that 14c in the Northwest please.

Supercell

Cloud to the east doesnt look as willing to break up so far this morning, once/if it arrives here on the east coast it's going to be chilly and overcast for a while.

The blob by the arrow is growing instead of shrinking.

obi604

just had a quick glimpse at weather app on my iphone for next few days weather. The east over next few days seems to be 5, 6, 7 degrees colder depending on the day.

For a change, it seems better in the west

pauldry

And there's plumes of cloud coming from Scotland. Will definitely be cloudier by the weekend. Are Met Eireann looking at a different satellite.

Gonzo

cloudy this morning here in Meath and feeling fairly cool. The west of Ireland is definitely getting the best of the weather as the temperatures are nothing to write home about elsewhere. The UK is fairing even worse with plenty of cloud and temperatures in the low to mid teens across much of England and eastern Scotland.

Hopefully the next spell of dry and settled weather will have a more southerly windflow so the whole country can join in on the warm temperatures. Even a south-westerly can work really well once we get sunshine with it but easterlies with a slight north-east component to them really do lower temperatures considerably a good way into the country and not just along the coasts. It's all about wind direction when it comes to warmth and high pressure especially during late Spring and early Summer.

pauldry

I was in Rosses Pt yesterday n the wind from NE was making it chilly there though could be either sea breeze or direction its facing.

For heat Mayo Galway Clare and Kerry prob best. Sligo might be OK but we have that temperamental sea mist that can ruin it very quickly here with any wind direction that has North or West in its component.

rovers_runner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120660977#Comment_120660977

It's actually a fairly common pattern over the last 5/6 years. If you look back over hotter summer spells recently you'll see it quite a lot.

pauldry

This is why you'd need to be wary in Northwest. This sea mist is just glued up here

But Met Eireann say nothing about sea mist or cloud in Northwest so hope the midday heat burns it ta fcuk.

kingshankly

Are forecasters having a mare here no mention of cloud anywhere yet it’s blanket cloud in the north east this morning

even phone app says total sun 🤔

Gonzo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120661290#Comment_120661290

Forecast completely wrong today for the east, a thick layer of cloud here and it's fairly nippy in the breeze too. Huddie back on for first time in a week. No sign of the cloud breaking either.

The far west of Ireland is on it's own with the sunny and warm weather but I'm remaining hopeful temperatures and sunshine will improve a little bit in eastern areas over the next few days, even just to get to 20C with some sunshine would be very nice.

The main problem is the positioning of the high pressure, it needs to sink southwards over eastern France so that we can draw up southerly winds and lose those chilly easterly to north-easterlys.

pauldry

Ya the sea does that to us in the West normally but its NE now so the opposite effect. Cloud appearing from nowhere. Ya they made an absolute mess of it to be fair. But I guess that's why it's called a forecast and not the "weather predicting the exact future"

compsys

I say every year that forecasting cloud cover in Ireland in these types of situations seems to be difficult for all forecasters. Not just Met E. They often get it wrong less than 24 hours in advance

A small island surrounded by a huge, cool sea means mist, fog and high cloud can almost appear out of nowhere.

The past 5 days have been almost wall to wall sun in the east. If a bit cool. So we can’t complain. This morning is a bit disappointing but I suspect the sun will appear by mid afternoon.

pauldry

Quite the range of temperatures in the British Isles 9 to 10c in parts of England 15c in Dublin 21c in the West of Ireland

JCX BXC

Wall to wall sunshine again in Galway city, haven't seen a cloud in days. Sun is very strong too, you'd start to burn fairly quickly!

Gonzo

Just looking at the UKV charts and it looks like Saturday and Sunday may bring the warmth back across the country with less of an onshore easterly breeze and temperatures finally reaching 20 to 22C quite widely across the country fingers crossed.

John.Icy

But if you want clear skies for the whole country over the summer, then winds mostly from the East are what you want - and nearly always how our HPs orient themselves. Even if they are directly over head, you will naturally get onshore breezes that keep that East coast cooler.

Southerlies are the warmest, but probably the dirtiest. Good mornings + afternoon cloud is common enough. Straight southerlies are usually a one and done, I can't remember any prolonged period of direct sunny southerly winds during the summer. They are basically plume events and July 18th last year was one of the first direct hits we had in ages. Westerlies or south westerlies? If you want the HP right overhead so its as sunny as possible, then you probably won't get those winds in the East. EDIT: We also saw last week how chronic a northerly flow was for fair weather cloud too. It was such a dirty week for the northern half of the island.

The East gets good summer weather from not-so-summery setups that bring in those offshore winds by virtue of cloud/showers/rain not making it all the way across the country. Basically when the Azores/Euro high ridges north but not north enough to bless us all. A lot of Dublin's warmest weather will come from non-descript days where it randomly will go 22-25c, while the rest of the country is miles off it.

When HP is centered over us, further west is best and it nearly always will be - but you will still get high temperatures as soon inland as Carlow/Kildare etc. by July. When we are more in a col with neither LP or HP being dominant, East is best. It's still very early in the season for the direct east coast. By the end of June we can usually get up to 25/26c a few km inland here with a light onshore breeze.

The current HP is not even directly overhead so we've probably been lucky so far how sunny its been, considering parts of the UK has been plagued by cloud and awful temperatures further East. In the grand scheme of things, it's setting up to be another beautiful day around the country - with a small bit of suffering in the East. I wouldn't begrudge the rest of the country this setup and gorgeous weather, and wish for a shite setup that leaves 90% of the country in poor weather while it remains good for me in Dublin. It's been cloudy for 3 hours and hoping for a different patter next time? Come on now 😋

Guessing the more NE'rly tilt today has brought some topographical shenanigans with the IOM and longer sea fetch into play which is producing that cloud?

esposito

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120661380#Comment_120661380

Yeah but it if the wind comes from the south more than likely it will be cloudier? It’s gas, if you want wall to wall sunshine for most of the country an easterly is best. If you want higher temperatures in the east and across most of the country, a southerly is best but we’d have to contend with more cloud!

pauldry

Those UV charts can go to hell if theyr just bringing 16c here. 20c now. Almost the perfect temperature for me. 21c probably is but most people prefer 25c. I find that too annoying.

compsys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120661459#Comment_120661459

Brilliant overview of things John. Agree entirely with everything you've said. And I too won't begrudge those out West some long-overdue sun and heat -even if I am a bit jealous.

As I also say every year, and which you've mentioned, the East's best weather often comes on pretty 'normal' days, when there's slack pressure, with passing (heavy) showers moving into the West, but where the East stays dry and manages to hit over 20º while the rest of the country only gets to 15. And I'm sure we'll have lots of those in July and August.

esposito

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120661655#Comment_120661655

25c and sunny is perfection for me. I must admit I do enjoy late 20s/early 30s too.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120661697#Comment_120661697

This weather is perfect for me. Dry and 18-22 with sun. Anything above 25 always seems oppressive to me and my activity levels drop.

Another gorgeous day in Galway. This May spell will long be remembered here. You'd know the Leaving Cert was starting soon!

Supercell

Fully overcast and feeling cool in the breeze, was nice while it lasted.

John.Icy

25c and above for me is lovely - if we managed to actually sort out our pitiful water infrastructure, it'd be great to get this type of weather every year and not have to worry about how quickly we can run into water issues.

Being only 5-10km from the coast pending wind direction, tend to have to either go abroad or spend more time back at the family home further inland to get my fix. I've climbed mountains in 30c+ heat (with humidity similar to what we get here) with no breeze or shade and it felt wonderful. But I appreciate that sounds like hell for people.

There's few feelings as good as stepping off the plane somewhere hot and getting hit in the face with a huge wave of heat.

Now, July 18th last year I actually spent much of the day in a London airport, where it locally was reading 39c. Air con wasn't working well in the wing we were in and it was 90% glass. The first time I think I ever begged the weather gods for relief from heat.

pauldry

Went out there n quite chilly wind but warm sun. Its 22c in Finner but only 17c here. Any reason for that?

Met Eireann has 24c forecast for here on that I'll fated hourly thing they do. It was 20c in Markree an hour ago buy back to 19c now.