Snowstalgia - Favourite Snow Moments

Victor_Meldrew

I don't know whether or not it's been done before, but I thought it'd be nice to start a thread about great instances of snowfall in the past.

Personally, I was born two months after 'The Big Snow of 1982', so the best I can do (in North Wicklow) is early 1987. when I was four. It snowed heavily on a sunday night, giving us a hefty covering (around four inches - maybe more). Schools were closed and the ESB were warning of power-cuts, caused by snow freezing on the lines. The snow lay for much of the week, before turning to horrible brown slush.

Scubadevils

For me it was most certainly the snow of '82. I was only seven at the time but I still remember it clearly. The first day it hit I was walking to school with my brother and to our delight when we got there the front door was completely covered by a drift. The power went that day too and I remember us building an igloo out the back garden
I have waited since then for a repeat

CerebralCortex

Felixdhc wrote:

For me it was most certainly the snow of '82. I was only seven at the time but I still remember it clearly. The first day it hit I was walking to school with my brother and to our delight when we got there the front door was completely covered by a drift. The power went that day too and I remember us building an igloo out the back garden
I have waited since then for a repeat

You might be waiting a while looks like from now on all this country will see is hugh volumns of rain i.e. no real temperature difference between summer and winter(just less sunlight causing a slight drop in temps).

LFCFan

In late February '91, on the way home from School in Drogheda it started snowing. By the time the bus had gone about 10 miles (which took over an hour) there was at least 4 inches on the roads. The bus failed to get up a steep hill and we had to get out and make our own way home. Myself and my friend got very lost as we were both only in 1st year and didn't know the route well enough, especially in a foot of snow. By the time we were found (after some radio announcement looking for us) there was over a foot of snow. Had a week off school and it was class. This was in Meath/Louth. Since then, snow has been non existant in any real form.

Felixdhc

Felixdhc wrote:

For me it was most certainly the snow of '82. I was only seven at the time but I still remember it clearly. The first day it hit I was walking to school with my brother and to our delight when we got there the front door was completely covered by a drift. The power went that day too and I remember us building an igloo out the back garden
I have waited since then for a repeat

1982 as well-got ten days off school. 12ft snow drifts making the ditches dissappear at sea level here and up to the tops of the trees in the woods up on the hills-thats 30ft.
Much of Arklow town had no power for 3 days and the rural areas for a lot longer as the ESB crews couldnt get out, the roads were blocked.
The esb wires were a couple of inches thick and looked like white wavin pipes laden down with snow and many of them just collapsed under the weight of it.
At my aunties some 800ft above sea level the snow drifted up to the upstairs windows in the house.

Here at sea level there was easily 2-3 feet of snow in a non stop heavy 4 day blizzard-it was america style.
A big Cold high pressure came in after it keeping the freeze going for more than a week after the snow stopped.

Danno

Jan 1986 or wa sit 1987, I was a wee lad, with 3 feet of snow.

Whats your height above sea level Danno?
That would have been 1987 though there was a good bit in 86 aswell.

I can remember, the whole country was full of snow in jan 1987 but theres no way it was as bad as 82
I remember 3 and 4 ft drifts here in 1987 but there wouldnt have been a fall of 3 feet of snow anywhere even if you were very high up.

Gonzo

for me it would have been the snow of 82 but i really was too young to remember it properly, all i remember is walking on snow with cars buried beneath us in snow drifts and 2 weeks or more off school, when the main snow cover finally melted i remember the stuff piled up on the sides of the streets lasting for perhaps 2 months afterwards.

Between 1982 and 1991 I can remember most winters having decent snowfalls here (3 to 6inchs), sometimes even a couple of times in one winter.

That snow of February 1991 was also memorable, i think it was a tuesday afternoon it started and by the time school was over we had about 6 inchs on the ground and by the next morning it was about a foot of snow, lasted about a week, little did i realize at the time that, that was the last decent snow i would see, since then over the past 14 years I'd say prolly no more than 4 or 5 inchs of snow has fallen in total during this time.

Amz

My favourite snow moment was in Austria in 2001, built a giant snow penis on a kindergarten's practice ski run in a small town in the Alps. That was funny. It was about 6ft tall. When we were travelling home to Munich on the bus we could see it from the windows and all the parents around us were giving out.

Fun times.

I'll scan in the pictures if I get a chance.

*sigh*

ROFLMAO

Only if this gets moved to illuminati

CerebralCortex

Danno wrote:

Jan 1986 or wa sit 1987, I was a wee lad, with 3 feet of snow.

Three foot of snow ???????!!!!!!!!!???????? :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: What???

ninebeanrows

Well my biggest snow was February 27th 2001...Oh Dear..
We recieved around 6-8 inches of lying snow with 1 foot
drifts, more snow that i had ever seen in my life!
It was a crazy night Monday night i remember it well
being a weather nut then too Late afternoon snow
showers were expected and then around 8 it rained for
around 1 and half hours, that winter had brought so
much frusttration to me and i had nearly given up when
i went to bed! Then at 2am i had a peak out the window,
it was snowing Transfixed watching the snow ly
i was cursing the puddles from the earlier rain, they
disappeared by 3 I didnt go back to bed that
night watching the snow piling up I remember
it being the only time i had seen snow piling up on the
Northern facing windows, all northeastern facing
objects plastered! The snow continued till morning
It was Pancake Tuesday and i certainly had no plans
of going to school The snow fell and fell and i ran
out side around 10 to a winter wonderland! The electricity
went soon afterwards! And it was bliss the snow topped
around 8 inches as it went over the sand pit i the field!

I remember me and my friends diving into 2 foot drifts
piled high outside houses!

Oh well, 6 inches mightnt sound much to you but to me it
was loads

Scubadevils

Weathercheck wrote:

Oh well, 6 inches mightnt sound much to you but to me it
was loads

I would gladly take that now I presume from your description it was a NE'ly that gave us that snow?

I had fun that morning on the M50, took me around 2 hours to get to Liffey Valley, enjoyed it though!

Amz

Earthman wrote:

ROFLMAO

Only if this gets moved to illuminati

But it's art!

CerebralCortex

Weathercheck wrote:

Well my biggest snow was February 27th 2001...Oh Dear..
We recieved around 6-8 inches of lying snow with 1 foot
drifts, more snow that i had ever seen in my life!
It was a crazy night Monday night i remember it well
being a weather nut then too Late afternoon snow
showers were expected and then around 8 it rained for
around 1 and half hours, that winter had brought so
much frusttration to me and i had nearly given up when
i went to bed! Then at 2am i had a peak out the window,
it was snowing Transfixed watching the snow ly
i was cursing the puddles from the earlier rain, they
disappeared by 3 I didnt go back to bed that
night watching the snow piling up I remember
it being the only time i had seen snow piling up on the
Northern facing windows, all northeastern facing
objects plastered! The snow continued till morning
It was Pancake Tuesday and i certainly had no plans
of going to school The snow fell and fell and i ran
out side around 10 to a winter wonderland! The electricity
went soon afterwards! And it was bliss the snow topped
around 8 inches as it went over the sand pit i the field!

I remember me and my friends diving into 2 foot drifts
piled high outside houses!

Oh well, 6 inches mightnt sound much to you but to me it
was loads

I am curious where do you or did you live at the time of the snow?

Danno

Earthman wrote:

Whats your height above sea level Danno?
That would have been 1987 though there was a good bit in 86 aswell.

I can remember, the whole country was full of snow in jan 1987 but theres no way it was as bad as 82
I remember 3 and 4 ft drifts here in 1987 but there wouldnt have been a fall of 3 feet of snow anywhere even if you were very high up.

I am 90-100m ASL in the south midlands. 70 miles from any coastline.

Kingsize

the best thing about the '82 snow was that schools were on holidays,we'd alread gotten a few days extra cos it was very frosty & roads were icy etc.
then when the ice started to melt There was the sinking feeling of "back to school on monday" THEN IT SNOWED !! & we got another week off school.
where i lived there was lots of new houses being built,i distinctlty remember walking accross a huge frozen mini-lake in one of the fields where the building was happening.that and sitting on a bread board sled!!

TonyB

I'm a bit of a snow-junkie myself (for the cold stuff, not the stuff you put up your nose), so I'm *loving* all this talk of snow. Although a single snowflake seems to bring chaos to Dublin I can't help looking forward to the prospect of snow.

BTW, I'm old enough to remember the snow of 1982, which tops my list of memorable weather events. Nothing since then has come close. Can anyone point me in the direction of information that explains what was going on in the atmosphere back in 1982? What is it that makes such events rare?

Danno

TonyB wrote:

I'm a bit of a snow-junkie myself (for the cold stuff, not the stuff you put up your nose), so I'm *loving* all this talk of snow. Although a single snowflake seems to bring chaos to Dublin I can't help looking forward to the prospect of snow.

BTW, I'm old enough to remember the snow of 1982, which tops my list of memorable weather events. Nothing since then has come close. Can anyone point me in the direction of information that explains what was going on in the atmosphere back in 1982? What is it that makes such events rare?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=227475

Put it here?

actually theres a snowstalgia thread where 1982 is mentioned.
I agree by the way, nothing has ever came close to that since

TonyB

Earthman wrote:

actually theres a snowstalgia thread where 1982 is mentioned.
I agree by the way, nothing has ever came close to that since

Thanks 'Earthman' for moving my query to this thread.

I'm curious about the sorts of patterns that give rise to snow in this country. In particular I'm interested in learning about the special conditions that have given rise to such events as the snow of 1982. Anybody care to point me in the direction of Met 101?

very quick answer.
Snow of january 82 was caused by an Atlantic system getting caught up in an easterly feed much like the one we are expecting next week.
The collision happened but the country stayed on the cold side of the collision and thus all fell as snow.
It is very very rare as the system *should* have blocked the cold feed and introduce a warm south westerly but it didnt as it was forced away by a cold area of high pressure which iirc pushed down from the north.

Thus after the snow the country froze by day for over a week.

Incidently when there is lying snow of a couple of inches day time temps are less likely to rise by more than a degree or two above freezing unless the wind picks up from the south or somewhere warm.

It was/is a very very rare situation which occurred in january, effectively at the peak time that such a scenario could maximise cold and have the maximum snow effect.

A repeat in late february would be less effectual in terms of snowfall.

Ray777

I remember the Big Snow of February 2005. Met Eireann, Sky News, BBC Weather, amongst others predicted chilly temperatures of 7 or 8C for much of Ireland, with a risk of rain or even sleet at times.

Monday 21st February 2005 began quite cold, with a few scattered wintry showers along the east coast. Later on in the day, as the winds turned easterly, temperatures plunged as low as -5C, as dark, threatening clouds made their way towards Ireland. At around 17:00, defying the predictions of Met Eireann, it began to snow lightly. By 17:05, the light snowflakes had developed into full, blizzard-like conditions and within an hour, there was a substantial covering of snow. The blizzard continued unabated through the night and on Tuesday morning, Ireland woke up to a complete white-out, with extremely heavy snow still falling and temperatures of -7C. There was 4ft of snow covering the entire country, with drifts of up to 30ft. Powerlines were down, water pipes had frozen and a national Emergency was declared by an Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. On Thursday evening, the snow finally stopped, and all was eerily quiet throughout the country, which had ground to a complete halt. The army were out in force, delivering food packages to houses all around the country. Boards.ie remained silent, as electricity supplies and phonelines remained down for the week. By friday evening, a very slight thaw had begun, but there was a long way to go, as Ireland was covered by at least 6ft of snow. Weather spotters had predicted that the Big Snow of 1982 would never be surpassed. However, in 2005 it was dwarfed. By mid March, much of the snow had turned to slush, and it wasn't until early April that the snow was completely gone.

Few people living in Ireland around that time will ever forget the Big Snow of 2005.