East coast blues?

nomdeboardie

Is it my imagination, or has what I think of as this 'East coast chill' become more of a thing in recent years? Especially in the 'warmer' months, a (partly) onshore breeze (i.e. breeze with an easterly component), maybe accompanied by some foggyness, gives us the inevitable forecast phrase "cooler in the East".

highdef

Nope, I spent the first 28 years of my life living a few hundred metres from the east coast in Dublin and it's always been a thing, exactly as you described. May and June can often be very chilly during high pressure with an on-shore breeze. It could be 25° in the midlands and west and 10° or more colder than that near the east coast.

My previous house was about 40km inland from coastal Dublin and up to mid summer, the sea breeze would sometimes reach there after lunchtime, albeit less strong and far less cool.

My new house is about as central as you can get and sea breezes are not a thing there, thankfully.

compsys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058292927/east-coast-blues

It's always been a thing. I live right by the coast and up until the end of May it can really affect the temps.

The Irish sea is still only around 9º at present so any wind coming off it is going to be chilly.

Actually last year I thought we got away relatively OK.

The bonus is that we get the least amount of rain and the most sun.

Mullaghteelin

The air isn't even that warm, it's mostly just diurnal heating overland in the increasingly strong sun. Great for the midlands and west, but nights are still fairly cool overall.

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120493291#Comment_120493291

That's actually a good point about the sunshine aspect as I do remember that there would be plenty of sunshine during the summer months but a couple of kilometres inland, cloud would begin to instead.

So although it would be a lot cooler than inland, it was often a lot sunnier. So many people coming back from a day out to Howth or Sutton beach would look like tomatoes heading back home in the evening, wondering how they got burned because it didn't feel very warm due to the fact that so many people associate the perceived warmth from the sun with the length of time it may take to get sunburned.

AnFearCeart

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058292927/east-coast-blues

I think there is some merit to what you're saying. Rarely anymore in high summer do we get a strong high pressure centred over the country. More often than not, our Summer high pressure gets centred to the North Sea between Scotland and Norway with us being on the southwestern flank of the high we see a coolish east to southeast breeze as a result.

If we could only get our Winter highs to park where our Summer highs do we'd have even better Winters with colder and possibly snowier conditions if high pressure centred over the north sea, just east of Scotland.

I've noticed Winter highs tend to centre over Ireland more these days - if this were to happen more in Summer, conditions like August 2022 would be more likely.

Winter highs settling over Ireland can be a curse too if they ingest Atlantic air which means weeks of low cloud. Cool days but frost free nights, a Winter nightmare. Sometimes this happens in Summer too, but the sun can burn it off in a fair few of these situations.

Oneiric 3

The east coast is also one of the sunniest and driest regions of Ireland. I think those who are suffering from the 'east coast blues' should trying living on the west or north coast for a while. I'll give them a couple of months at most before they start yearning for the far gentler climes of the eastern coasts again.

Banzai600

have family out west - originally lived in Dublin, and they said the contrast of their weather is unreal, meaning it feels mostly miserable in the west for them. Its something they were aware of, but nout they can do about it now anyway.

im on a motorbike all yr round to/from work in Dublin, and the weather seems to have lost its structure for want of a better word, season wise. But i feel it has been more dreary and grey and dull the last couple of yrs.

Gonzo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120499013#Comment_120499013

I could never live in the west of Ireland, it's a beautiful place to visit but the amount of rainfall per year is too much. The east may be the driest and sunniest part of Ireland but it is still poor enough with more than enough rainfall, the fact that the west can get double the amount I wouldn't be able to handle it.

However the west does make up for it with more interesting weather such as thunderstorms and a more regular chance of snow in the winter.

Elmer Blooker

The temps could be hitting the high 20s in the west in an easterly airflow but don’t even think of going to an east coast beach without one of these.

nomdeboardie

Another thing I don't like about the east coast is that the prevailing westerly component to the wind means less in the way of majestic crashing waves 😂

(Disclaimer: I have little experience of west coast)

rovers_runner

Take a look at the count of days over 20 degrees in the last few years lads.

I think ye might be surprised at how well places like Newport/Markree/Shannon/Mt Dillon do versus Dublin.

Gonzo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120503517#Comment_120503517

Dublin probably has one of the lowest chances of reaching 20C similar to other coastline urban centres such as Cork, go a few miles further inland and the chances of hitting 20C or more increases alot.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120503303#Comment_120503303

The reason for epic waves in the West is the monstrous energy of the North Atlantic swells. The Irish Sea just doesn't have the vastness of happenings & storms. Offshore wind is actually good for surf. Keeps the wave up, easier to smack the lip, whoopa!!

nomdeboardie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120505188#Comment_120505188

Ha, I knew I'd get into trouble for implying the wind was the only difference, but forgot to edit 😅

snowstreams

I lived in the East Coast before moving West to Galway. While there's more rainfall for sure, there's also hotter weather in summer, amazing beaches and more interesting scenery overall. What I absolutely hate about the West, is the misty days where it's enough to ruin your outdoor plans, not windy, not interesting, just misty and grey. Last few summers in Galway have been gorgeous compared to usual standards though which more than made up for it, coupled with some interesting thunderstorms in August which I captured footage of with my drone. My wife hated the east coast weather, it was too average overall, while it would be 28c in the West in the high pressures and all of her relatives soaking up the sun on vast beautiful beaches, it would be barely 20c in Dublin and sea mist/breeze. It's rare to get weather that good here, but when it happens, it's amazing. That said this year, we've just booked a foreign holiday as the weather is terrible so far.

PokeHerKing

As long as I'm coastal I could live anywhere on this island.

The weather evens out overall, west coast gets better extremes and east coast gets a better average.

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538288#Comment_120538288

And I'm the opposite, having grown up by the East coast, the Midlands is heaven to me now, with no cold sea breezes, something I have always detested. Quite often, it could be a cold 12° in May or June but at least 10° warmer inland.

Gonzo

The worst thing about the east coast and much of Leinster in general is the lack of warmth until June due to the much mentioned easterly sea breeze keeping things on the chilly side especially during high pressure and the other worst thing is a total lack of wintry weather. We have to bet on an unstable mid to late winter easterly or something similar to get any sort of measurable snow and those happen roughly once per decade. Other than that we are looking at temporary dustings if we're lucky most winters and several winters can slip by in a row without any snow accumulations. Snow from the west and especially the north rarely gets to this part of the country.

It's also rare enough to get temperatures above 25C, again due to the sea breezes although more southern inland portions can do quite well such as Oak Park. Summer 2022 was an exception where 33C was reached in Dublin and much of the Greater Dublin region got to at least 30C due to a heat spike with easterly breezes less of an influence. Best thing about the east coast for me anyway is the lack of wind storms/wind events compared to elsewhere in the country and the slightly dryer more sunny conditions during the summer where temperatures regularly get into the low 20s between June and early September.