Lowest Temperature Ireland could have achieved

bazlers · 20-10-2018 7:36pm #1

Firstly moderators not sure where to post this question so please do what you want with it.
It possibly a little childish of a question but interested to hear your thoughts and reasonings.Thanks.

My question is what would the lowest temperature possible Ireland could have got to ever, this includes the last Ice age.

Second part

Whats the lowest temperature Ireland could ever get to now? -19 I believe has been recorded in Sligo. Is it conceivable we could get into the -20s In winters to come?

OneEightSeven · 21-10-2018 6:32am

If the Gulf Stream slows down, then below -19°C is possible. The Gulf Stream helps keep Europe ice-free throughout the Winter.

M.T. Cranium · 21-10-2018 7:19am

Ice age temperatures could have been a lot lower since much of Ireland and Britain were covered with ice and sea level dropped considerably with the northern parts of the Atlantic frozen over. Something like -30 C would not be an unreasonable guess. Even -35 C is possible.

whomitconcerns · 21-10-2018 7:46am

Ireland has the lowest "highest ever temperature" of any European country and the highest "Lowest ever temperature" also! Interesting fact

KevRossi · 21-10-2018 7:50am

I thought Iceland beat us on that. I think we have the second lowest highest temperature ever recorded worldwide.

whomitconcerns · 21-10-2018 8:03am

Ah icelands not in Europe

but your right, their highest ever temp was 31 or something...

DOCARCH · 21-10-2018 8:44am

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Ah icelands not in Europe

Half of it is....

pauldry · 21-10-2018 11:06am

we are in a halfth place so

Gaoth Laidir · 21-10-2018 3:42pm

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Ireland has the lowest "highest ever temperature" of any European country and the highest "Lowest ever temperature" also! Interesting fact

And also strange is the fact that the most northerly point in Ireland is in the South.

Oneiric 3 · 21-10-2018 4:32pm

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Ah icelands not in Europe

Yes, it is:
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Oneiric 3 · 21-10-2018 4:36pm

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

And also strange is the fact that the most northerly point in Ireland is in the South.

Took me a second to figure this out.

Non-politically, the most westerly point of Ireland is in the south while the most easterly point is in the north.

goat2 · 21-10-2018 4:39pm

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

And also strange is the fact that the most northerly point in Ireland is in the South.

How is that

Artane2002 · 21-10-2018 4:41pm

goat2 wrote: »

How is that

South as in the Republic of Ireland

lolo62 · 21-10-2018 7:26pm

This thread just gave me a headache

JCX BXC · 21-10-2018 11:25pm

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

And also strange is the fact that the most northerly point in Ireland is in the South.

That actually hurt me to figure out

rossie1977 · 22-10-2018 1:35am

OneEightSeven wrote: »

If the Gulf Stream slows down, then below -19°C is possible. The Gulf Stream helps keep Europe ice-free throughout the Winter.

Dublin sits at 53 degrees North, same as Edmonton in Canada which has got as low as -49c and parts of southern Alaska.

So yes if Gulf Stream did slow we would have extremely cold winters here.

SleetAndSnow · 22-10-2018 7:47pm

realistically speaking, what are the chances of the jetstream slowing down / what would actually cause it to slow down?

DOCARCH · 22-10-2018 8:10pm

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

realistically speaking, what are the chances of the jetstream slowing down / what would actually cause it to slow down?

Gulf stream or jet stream?

If Gulf stream, as far as I am aware, there is evidence it is slowing down. Increased melt waters from arctic and Greenland glaciers will slow it down and dilute/reduce salinity of the ocean.

4068ac1elhodqr · 22-10-2018 8:33pm

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

realistically speaking, what are the chances of the jetstream slowing down / what would actually cause it to slow down?

Perhaps the only real chance within the next 50/100yrs or so would be in the event of WW3.

i.e. If just a portion of the two superpowers stockpile went hot, the earth would go quickly into a cool nuc-winter. Whereby global tempurates could drop by 10oC.

A {super}volanic eruption might do something slightly similar, but there hasn't been one of those for a fair while. A large asteriod landing would also mean an extra coat or two for the winter.

Birdnuts · 22-10-2018 8:48pm

I'm pretty sure it dropped below -20C in places like Baltinglass during the Dec 2010 cold spell. Similar temps recorded in Ballinrobe down West during the Dec 2001 cold spell

arctictree · 23-10-2018 2:12pm

OneEightSeven wrote: »

If the Gulf Stream slows down, then below -19°C is possible. The Gulf Stream helps keep Europe ice-free throughout the Winter.

Incorrect, its the prevailing westerly. If we had constant easterly winds from November to March, our winters would be much more severe. In fact, during the 2010 freeze, the liffey started to freeze over during the final days of that spell. Another week or two and I'd say Dublin bay would start to freeze.

highdef · 23-10-2018 3:16pm

arctictree wrote: »

Incorrect, its the prevailing westerly. If we had constant easterly winds from November to March, our winters would be much more severe. In fact, during the 2010 freeze, the liffey started to freeze over during the final days of that spell. Another week or two and I'd say Dublin bay would start to freeze.

But if there was no gulf stream, would the westerly winds not be much colder than at present, due to the fact that the ocean at our latitude would be a lot colder?

Lowest Temperature Ireland could have achieved

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