Shannon radar down again.

Discodog · 28-11-2019 07:38AM

irishgeo wrote: »

Power failures and overheating cause long-term outages at Ireland's 'most important' weather radar https://jrnl.ie/4908856

Live now. A few FOI requests to get the real picture.

The relevant paragraph:

In a statement during the outages, Met Éireann apologised to those in affected counties for the loss of coverage.

It also said that it is planning a major programme to expand and modernise Ireland’s weather radar network, which it expects to meet the country’s needs to 2040.

However, it is not yet known when these upgrades will take place.

Joe Public · 28-11-2019 01:53PM

Discodog wrote: »

The relevant paragraph:

In a statement during the outages, Met Éireann apologised to those in affected counties for the loss of coverage.

It also said that it is planning a major programme to expand and modernise Ireland’s weather radar network, which it expects to meet the country’s needs to 2040.

However, it is not yet known when these upgrades will take place.

It's easy to plan, I'm planning on redecorating the house for the last 10 years.

Discodog · 28-11-2019 03:11PM

Joe Public wrote: »

It's easy to plan, I'm planning on redecorating the house for the last 10 years.

Apparently they were planning seven years ago. This planning takes a long time.

Comhrá · 28-11-2019 05:21PM

It also said that it is planning a major programme to expand and modernise Ireland’s weather radar network, which it expects to meet the country’s needs to 2040.

However, it is not yet known when these upgrades will take place.

Probably sometime in the late 2030's I'd imagine. . . .at a cost of around treble the original estimate.

Villain · 29-11-2019 08:08AM

TD Timmy Dooley PQ got a reply.

Mortelaro · 29-11-2019 10:11AM

How come met Éireann has to go through a procurement process for equipment
Yet the Oireachtas can get the worlds best printing press asap...

Hotblack Desiato · 29-11-2019 11:17AM

The Oireachtas went through a procurment process too. The printing press wasn't the problem.

talkabout · 29-11-2019 07:04PM

I see Met Eireann just published a PIN Notice

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/157878/0/0?returnUrl=ctm/Supplier/publictenders&b=ETENDERS_SIMPLE

Joe Public · 29-11-2019 08:11PM

talkabout wrote: »

I see Met Eireann just published a PIN Notice

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/157878/0/0?returnUrl=ctm/Supplier/publictenders&b=ETENDERS_SIMPLE

One big problem about etenders is that the job often goes to a big bureaucratic organisation who are good at responding to tenders with little emphasis on checking out their previous work. Hopefully the experienced Met people in Met eireann will have have a major say in who gets the job rather than just leaving it to the accountants.

arccosh · 29-11-2019 08:11PM

Taking 365 days in a year (some use 366) for 2018
304 days for 2019
They probably take away routine maintenance also, say circa 3 days, plus even a mid year check of 1 day

2018- average 98.93% Avail .... circa 4 days downtime (7 days with maint)
2019- average 92.71% Avail .... circa 24 days downtime (28 days with maint)

Danno · 30-11-2019 12:18AM

Villain wrote: »

TD Timmy Dooley PQ got a reply.

Well colour me beautiful - we're getting five dual-polarisation radars.

Now let me guess the locations for the additional three...

Cork Apt or Farranfore Apt
Knock Apt or Finner Camp AWS or Donegal Apt.
Waterford Apt

Dublin and Shannon to get upgrades.

I've highlighted my three guesses in bold.

ecowise · 30-11-2019 12:41AM

talkabout wrote: »

I see Met Eireann just published a PIN Notice

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/157878/0/0?returnUrl=ctm/Supplier/publictenders&b=ETENDERS_SIMPLE

The PIN notice did not specify the band but I expect they are implying C band. I would really like to see at least one S band system somewhere the West - possibly Valentia or Belmullet. They need to include a quality of service agreement with a target uptime of ~99% (including servicing) with financial penalties if not met.

Wanderer78 · 30-11-2019 05:18AM

Danno wrote: »

Well colour me beautiful - we're getting five dual-polarisation radars.

Now let me guess the locations for the additional three...

Cork Apt or Farranfore Apt
Knock Apt or Finner Camp AWS or Donegal Apt.
Waterford Apt

Dublin and Shannon to get upgrades.

I've highlighted my three guesses in bold.

Well hopefully, as I'm a stones throw from one of them

Gaoth Laidir · 30-11-2019 10:03AM

Radars don't need to be located at current stations. They can be anywhere. That opens up a lot more possible locations, unless we get the usual nimbysm like we have with the wind farms. But from that list, certainly Waterford and Donegal Airports are most needed. Others would be south Kerry/west Cork, Belmullet/Mace Head and somewhere like Mullingar.

ecowise · 30-11-2019 12:11PM

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

Radars don't need to be located at current stations. They can be anywhere. That opens up a lot more possible locations, unless we get the usual nimbysm like we have with the wind farms. But from that list, certainly Waterford and Donegal Airports are most needed. Others would be south Kerry/west Cork, Belmullet/Mace Head and somewhere like Mullingar.

I suspect they are counting on the radar systems in Wales and Cornwall to cover the SE. Coastal locations west of Cork and south of Donegal would seem to be the most attractive in terms of maximum range. After that it is down to spacing between them (assuming there will be more than one), proximity to service personnel, good road access, terrain type (avoiding mountains is hard in the inland direction!) and availability of a good (3 phase?) power supply.

Rougies · 30-11-2019 02:31PM

ecowise wrote: »

I suspect they are counting on the radar systems in Wales and Cornwall to cover the SE. Coastal locations west of Cork and south of Donegal would seem to be the most attractive in terms of maximum range. After that it is down to spacing between them (assuming there will be more than one), proximity to service personnel, good road access, terrain type (avoiding mountains is hard in the inland direction!) and availability of a good (3 phase?) power supply.

The Welsh radar doesn't give good coverage for the SE and the Cornwall one is way out of range.

SeedySam22 · 30-11-2019 06:41PM

All things being equal for any site the 1st preference should be height. We don't want our precious radars being knee deep in water.

ecowise · 30-11-2019 06:55PM

Rougies wrote: »

The Welsh radar doesn't give good coverage for the SE and the Cornwall one is way out of range.

Sorry for not making myself clearer. By SE I meant for observing rain systems coming from the SE. I think both Wales & Cornwall are very useful for this. Likewise on the SW & W coasts we want to see systems as early as possible before they make landfall.

JCX BXC · 30-11-2019 09:33PM

SeedySam22 wrote: »

All things being equal for any site the 1st preference should be height. We don't want our precious radars being knee deep in water.

I'm not sure I understand you, why would a radar be placed somewhere liable to being knee deep in water?

Harry Palmr · 01-12-2019 10:34PM

It would be nice for the SE to get some decent coverage - even the full fat weather stations are rare down here.

ecowise · 02-12-2019 11:32AM

Harry Palmr wrote: »

It would be nice for the SE to get some decent coverage - even the full fat weather stations are rare down here.

If they are going to deploy another 3 C-band radars in addition to Dublin and Shannon then I would include the SE. One in Belmullet, one in Valentia and one in Waterford. My reasons for these locations are to get maximum additional coverage from easily serviceable sites. Other locations would also work but these seem reasonable. Any other suggestions?

ecowise · 02-12-2019 11:40AM

Useful interactive map for weather radar installations relevant to Europe:

http://radar.meteo.be/en/1682986-In+Europe.html

Discodog · 02-12-2019 01:47PM

The best guide to new locations may be to look for existing government owned sites.

SeedySam22 · 02-12-2019 09:06PM

JCX BXC wrote: »

I'm not sure I understand you, why would a radar be placed somewhere liable to being knee deep in water?

While both radars are high up in the airports they could have access closed off due to local flooding in relatively low lying land

spookwoman · 07-12-2019 06:43PM

Radar isn't looking too good in Shannon

ecowise · 07-12-2019 08:43PM

spookwoman wrote: »

Radar isn't looking too good in Shannon

It seems to be normal on met.ie and metoffice.gov.uk.

JCX BXC · 07-12-2019 09:45PM

The interference always seems more pronounced on netweather.

18-12-2019 11:08AM

Big storm coming in so, naturally, it's down again!

SleetAndSnow · 18-12-2019 11:10AM

171170 wrote: »

Big storm coming in so, naturally, it's down again!

It's not on netweather, seems to be on met.ie

18-12-2019 11:21AM

171170 wrote: »

Big storm coming in so, naturally, it's down again!

It's working again - alleluia!

Shannon radar down again.

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