Spring 2023 - General Discussion

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120661893#Comment_120661893

And onshore breeze where you is the first thought that popped into my head.

pauldry

Yeah. Yer right. Same yesterday. The back gardens the place to be so n not the packed cold beach.

Birdnuts

Strong onshore NE wind holding back temps too here on the North Mayo coast compared to the rest of the county😒

Gonzo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120661989#Comment_120661989

It's crap in Leinster too, just 14C and slate grey cloud. We should lose the NE wind by the weekend and things should hopefully improve.

Reckless Abandonment

It's actually feeling cold here in leixlip. Spoiled over the last week or so

rovers_runner

20-22 really is the sweet spot, you can be out in it all day without risk of burning in weathered skin. Perfect weather in Sligo again today, no rain forecast for about 10 days, ground is like dust.

Anything over 25 and you'll burn easy without good hydration and sun screen.

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662230#Comment_120662230

The strength of the sun is not dependent on the air temperature, something that so many Irish people seem to be surprised to learn of. If it was 15°, sunny and breezy in June in Dublin and 25° with identical weather otherwise in Galway, you'll burn at the more or less the same rate in both locations. Ultraviolet radiation levels (the stuff that burns you) are not dependent on the air temperature.

Go lie in the sun amongst the snowfields in the Alps with no sunscreen in May. It may feel fairly cool but if you were to spend an hour in the sun, you'll find that you've quite a nasty burn if you have typical Irish skin.

pauldry

24c Mt Dillon the highest so far today. 2 or 3 hours for the max. The Shannon car park is good for a fake max up to 6pm

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662386#Comment_120662386

why is it fake? as in all the cars and metal and concrete make the general area hotter

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662386#Comment_120662386

It could be argued that the Mount Dillon temperatures are "fake" too as the site is surrounded by cut bog. On a sunny day with light winds, this type of bog land can create its own little climate due to a large expanse of dark dry ground.

Personally though, I see bog land as being a very common feature in Ireland and to have an official weather station within one of those areas is fine however I do take in mind that cut bogs are dry and warmer due to human influence, much like the land near the Shannon site.

.Donegal.

24.5c at mace head

John.Icy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662705#Comment_120662705

Well it's an aged old issue. The perfect station, that abides by every possible rule, probably is representative of conditions very few if any people experience. Oak Park is a great station setup for all the stipulations involved, but not everyone lives in such a wide open grassy area.

Phoenix Park is a complete heat trap, surrounded by dense trees, buildings rather close, a car park that looks slightly within the supposed required distance a car park should be etc. But temperatures recorded there are probably felt in many heat trap gardens/green spaces around Dublin. On July 18th last year in particular, PP was miles above the rest, 1.1c - which in the grand scheme of things is pretty large. Dublin Airport on the converse often seems to be in a world of its own temperature wise (I read in another thread that the station moved and lessened this?), and appears to be almost a microclimate at times.

I think there was lots of controversy about a 40c at Heathrow in England was it, pretty much no grass around and concrete everywhere. But isn't that London really? Or most major cities. For the sake of records we can keep the 'perfect' set up stations to compare long term trends, but there's probably no harm recording hotter temperatures experienced in cities or concrete jungles as that is what a lot of people will feel.

Though I do think the primary issue with Shannon was that in the evenings in 2018, a switch in wind direction was happening, and there was an rapid large temperature spike due to the air now flowing over a hot car park surface directly onto the station, where that was not the case during the day. Like a hair dryer being pointed at the station in the evening. There was threads on the station somewhere where people broke it all down.

As an aside, cloud has dispersed now in Dublin so can enjoy a nice sunny post-work evening now.

Gonzo

Sun managed to break through finally over the past 2 hours however that breeze is still fairly chilly, feels pleasant enough once you get into a sheltered area away from the wind. Currently 16C which looks like the high for today here in Meath.

Dazler97

Defo pool and bbq weather

Gonzo

Arpege model now also showing a decent increase in temperatures across the midlands, Leinster and the south for Saturday and Sunday, temperatures getting to 20C or more widely across the country with warm temperatures much closer to the coast compared to today-Friday. This is a result of the high pressure moving south and sitting over us for the weekend, while the chilly E/ENE wind moves south and east of us.

Hopefully we all get decent sunshine with this rather than half the day stuck under a bank of cloud which would lower the temperature overall from what is shown above.

compsys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662872#Comment_120662872

Dublin Airport moved about 20 years ago to a much, much cooler location - mainly at night. However my theory is that the recent opening of the North Runway is somehow affecting things as it's been less of an outlier in recent months. But it's still 'cool'.

For example, DA is 'only' 1.1º above its LTA for the month. But PP is 2.1º. That's a huge difference in LTA for two stations in the same county.

Though TBH the DA location is probably in a slightly better location for official data than PP.

But PP is more representative.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662774#Comment_120662774

Wow that is impressive for Mace Head in May.

pauldry

That cloud that was in the East today looks like repeating the performance tomorrow. Also more fair weather cloud in the North and West.

Hints that the High may drift West after the Bank Holiday allowing cooler conditions from around June 7th.

Meteorite58

Peach of a day here in Kerry. Temp slowly dropping now down to 20.6C from a high of 23.7C. Even with a good breeze this afternoon it was just perfect in the low humidity. Seems kind of unusual such a good run of warm temperatures for so long this time of year and it is set to go on and on (put plenty of water out for the birdies☺️).

Hope others get to experience the good temperatures in the coming days.

pauldry

Our temperature shot up after about 3pm. It was barely 20c before then but ended over 23c. Looked at UK Met Office 10 Day forecast on YouTube and a lot of ensemble members have the dry spell lasting quite a while. Even any rain that eventually comes is small.

Was quite amazing to see the High not move at all for 5 days. Google has the weather for Sligo 22c or 21c for next 10 days. Bloody hell. That'd be quite epic for here.

The last GFS I looked at saw a brief breakdown and then even hotter. I guess the only sure thing is wer going to have splendid weather over the bank holiday.

Spare a thought for those going on expensive holidays to parts of Spain though the South has settled down somewhat.

acequion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120663758#Comment_120663758

Completely agree, a peach of an absolutely beautiful day it was.😍 Isn't it just great to be right at the centre of the beautiful weather for once! Don't begrudge us east coasters! We're normally reading posts of how lovely it is over there while we're shrouded in mists here. So we sure are making hay. It's still warm right now approaching midnight but then I have a very warm house which can get uncomfortable in heatwaves. But I ain't complaining! 😀

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120663931#Comment_120663931

I've been on the south coast of Spain for the past week. There was one night time thunderstorm and two afternoon showers in the past week but otherwise it's been gin blue skies. Cost wise, the place I'm staying in is lovely and you'd get to stay a max of 3 days in a comparable accommodation in Dublin city centre whilst I'm here for 12 nights.

Can't disagree that I'd love to be down at my house in Longford as it's heaven in weather conditions like those in Ireland right now but sure if I wasn't on holiday in Spain, chances are I'd be working right now and not getting to enjoy the fine weather.

Edit .... Just checked the cameras and it's overcast at the house in Longford....WTF?

Gonzo

I would easily take 2 weeks in southern Spain no matter what the weather is in Ireland. I've been going to Fuengirola since I was 5 years old and up to covid went there every year, it's kinda like my second home away from home. I'm probably going to go back there early September for 1 to 2 weeks and enjoy it once again.

Highdef got very lucky or unlucky with the thunderstorms not really amounting to much in the Malaga region compared to other parts of Spain. The weather there improved much quicker than what was originally forecast for the region with the storms and rains further to the north around central and northern Spain as well as south-eastern Spain around Murcia. However temperatures are a bit on the low side for this time of the year but still pleasantly warm but not as warm as what parts of the west of Ireland is currently experiencing.

Back to home and thankfully today has started sunny and it's feeling fairly mild. Today and tomorrow will be similar to yesterday with a fairly keen E/ENE wind knocking down temperatures to average to slightly below average values for the time of year in eastern parts but we should see 20C or more quite widely from Saturday across all parts of the country away from coastal areas.

pauldry

My parents went to Spain the other week near Malaga and they got the worst of it. It's been almost completely sunny since they got home.

But sure its up to oneself. I lived in Spain for 15 months and it's a beautiful place but I prefer Ireland in fine weather.

Thelonious Monk

Cool, overcast and quite windy in my part of Dublin so far! I wish RTE would stop lying and telling me it's blazing sunshine outside!

Gonzo

Now that Spring is over and done with I thought I'd give my thoughts on it. One of the worst March/April combinations I can ever remember in terms of excessive and daily rainfall, especially March. While April wasn't quite as wet as March, the daily rainfalls made the already waterlogged ground worse and while it was slightly milder than average, it certainly didn't feel it with so much rain, cloud and lack of sun. Up to this point I would have scored Spring a 0/10 but we still had May to go.

May by far was the most interesting month of the Spring. The deluges still lasted into the start of the month, however things became volatile and at my location had 4 to 5 thunderstorms over the period of 10 to 12 days with the first storm in particular being quite dramatic. Overall this was the most thunder and lightning I have experienced since the great thunderstorm event of 1985. Some other parts of Leinster had more thunderstorms than I experienced, some places had 6 to 7 of them over the same period. Very unusual for Leinster/Dublin region to experience multiple thunderstorms within a short period of time and not just the typical Irish style 1 crack of thunder and a flash of lightning and it'd done sort of thing. Once the volatility came to and end things dried out, the rains stopped and second half of May has been dominated by high pressure and increasing levels of sunshine. Temperatures here in Meath at least have been nothing exciting throughout, we manage to reach 20C about 2 or 3 times during May but the majority of the time it's been mid teens throughout the month. However the thunderstorms at the start of the month and the amount of sunshine particularly in the final week of May deserves a few points into the scoring.

Overall 5/10 for Spring. March and April let it down really badly but the rather interesting May deserved the 5 points.

compsys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120663513#Comment_120663513

I was going to accuse you of being overly negative [again :-)] as no one was forecasting this but you got it spot on. So well done. What forecast were you looking at can I ask? As MET E obviously wasn't looking at it lol.

I'd imagine today will be the same as yesterday for Dublin with the sun properly breaking through for the late afternoon. Maybe a bit earlier this time.

pauldry

The cloud is more mobile on the satellite today so shouldn't last there. More cloud will develop in the West and North later for a time due to heating but not sure why this won't happen further Southwest. Not scientifically minded enough.

Like a good few people here I look everywhere at weather forecasts every day. Met Eireann just one.

acequion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120665132#Comment_120665132

My sentiments exactly re your last sentence pauldry. Much as I complain about many things in Ireland, it's my absolute favourite place to be when the weather is good. I live close to some beautiful beaches here in Kerry and my garden is my pride and joy. The weather is generally not good enough to enjoy it for more than occasional interludes each year though I doggedly have that garden looking stunning from April to October. And I'm so greedy for this weather here that I don't like being away on spells like these. Am away to Spain on 11th June for two weeks and am selfishly hoping this good spell here will have ended by then. That said, I love to get away too, always enjoy Spain and its sunshine. Weather comes close to top of the list for me when it comes to quality of life.

Another stunner here today in Kerry. I'm off today and just loving the warmth, sunshine and pottering in and out to the garden. Planning a stroll on the beach soon as you just have to go to the beach in weather like this. Southern style weather from the comforts of our own homes. Bliss 😍

Meteorite58

Mod Note: might just close this thread for a few days to let the Summer thread get established.

Thanks