Severe Weather Snow / Ice Weds 28 FEB ( Onwards ) ** READ MOD NOTE POST#1**

hmmm wrote: »

Yes. The next time they need to give forecasts by Eircode. So for example, your house & driveway could be a Yellow warning only, while next door could be Red.

Perhaps Google Maps could display the 42,000 different variations of forecast, so people can plan their trips. "I could go via the Dublin road, but I notice there is a Red warning outside the Centra. I'll go via the Nenagh road instead, as the only warning is the stretch outside the O'Connors house."

Achasanai wrote: »

Can you explain this a bit more? I thought there was a minimum and maximum to a general period, but do you mean that there will be a more extensive minimum period?

Solar Cycle 24 (2008 to present) had began in December 2008 which meant solar activity was at its lowest in December 2008. With solar activity, there's two different phenomena, one is the solar minimum where solar activity is at its lowest and you'll get long periods of spotless days. The other is solar maximum where you'll rarely ever see a spotless day and in fact, solar activity at its maximum point for the solar cycle. Each solar cycle is different in strength, duration etc but the duration is normally around 11-12 years. If you don't know what sunspots are, they're basically dark spots on the sun which stand out because they're very different looking to the sun's appearance. Can you make out the sunspots here on this image of the sun for example? You sure can, it's those small black or dark spots.



Historically, the coldest of Winters are just before, during or after solar minimum. These include 1946-47, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1995-96, 1996-97, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11.

Why do these occur specifically around these parts of the solar cycle? Historically, northern blocking over Greenland, Scandinavia etc tend to be more frequent and more stubborn during these years. We are at the same part of the solar cycle as 2010 was here in 2018 but the main difference is that 2010 was after solar minimum in December 2008 and 2018 here is going into solar minimum by the end of the year or in 2019. If we were to base the solar activity right now on a similar season, it would be Winter 2007-08 which had a few teasers for what was to come in the three following Winters (such as the December anticyclonic spell, January 2008 heavy snow and brief easterly, February 2008 anticyclonic spell, March and April snow showers) and I feel Winter 2017-18 is a teaser of what's to come in the next few Winters from 2018-19 to 2020-21 or even after. Solar cycle 25 is expected to be the weakest solar cycle since the Dalton Minimum and perhaps us going into a mini Ice Age as some people say which will increase the chances of cold Winters historically - Winters during the Maunder and Dalton Minimums were brutally cold though obviously there were mild Winters too. With this in mind, I feel years like 2010 may be a bit more frequent and perhaps more severe, 2018 might become one of those years. 2018 is set to be the most spotless year on the sun since 2009. 2009 was the most spotless year in more than a century to emphasise the significance of these expectations.

Unearthly wrote: »

Went for a walk there in d15. Knee deep in snow in some parts. Cars stalling.