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Recent (past 10 years or so) snow events, reports etc

  • 30-12-2005 10:26AM
    #1
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭


    In an effort to keep peeps spirits up (esp Longfield ;) ) untill the next potential snow event, lets jog our memories.

    It seems that for some of us inc me, our memories are quite short. There are has been snow. Nothing anything approaching 82, but significant enough to be memorable for some.

    Lets start with the infamous 27th February 2001. The day that brought blizzards to a little patch of north Dublin, WC's garden :D:D .

    He has mentioned this soooooo many times now, but very few others seem to remember. So was there anything outside his garden?

    you judge.....

    From Met Eireann monthly bulletin
    A depression to the north of the country on the 26th moved into the Irish Sea on the 27th, bringing a spell of snow in the northern half of the country and along the east coast; gale force northerly winds brought blizzard conditions in places.
    And more specifically
    Monday 26th A depression of 986hPa centred over NW England was almost stationary leaving Ireland in a very strong northerly airflow. A cold fron t passed over the east coast into the Irish Sea. The day started with rain in the east and south and showers further west. Showers turned progressively to sleet and snow with accumulations even at sea level. Strong winds at first slackened off in the east before becoming very strong again during the evening.
    Tuesday 27thThe depression to the east maintained a strong and bitterly cold northerly airflow over Ireland. Outbreaks of snow persisted near eastern and northeastern coasts, giving significant accumulations in places. Elsewhere it was mostly dry with just a few wintery showers. sunny in western half. Northerly winds reached gale force along northern and eastern coasts.

    18mm precipitation recorded at Dublin Airport on the 27th with max temps of 0-3C near east coast.

    A news reports from Irish independent on 28th Feb 2001
    SNOW blizzards and continuous storm-force winds left air and sea passengers stranded and thousands of homes without electricity yesterday.

    Over 7,000 homes along the east coast, including in the capital, face their second day without electricity today as the big freeze grips the country and temperatures plummet.

    As conditions deteriorated yesterday, Dublin Airport was forced to close down, with no take-offs or landings all day affecting the travel plans of over 45,000 passengers.

    The commuter loop around the capital was the worst hit as snow continued to fall throughout the day, making driving conditions hazardous.
    ESB crews worked from dawn until dusk to restore power to over 40,000 homes in the Dublin, Louth and Wicklow areas. But as quickly as power was restored in some areas, it was lost in others as high winds or piles of snow brought lines down.

    "The roads around Loughshinny in Dublin were impassable all day and so was the Cooley Peninsula as well as the Enniskerry part of Wicklow. The number losing power increased all day," the spokesman said.

    About 40,000 households were hooked back on to the national grid by nightfall, when work had to stop for safety reasons. However, 7,000 were still without power early today 5,000 in Rush, north of Collinstown and east and west of Swords,
    Aer Rianta said 45,000 people would normally travel through Dublin Airport in a day with over 400 flights inbound and outbound, but the runways were forced to close shortly after 7am.

    Aer Lingus cancelled its 147 flights in and out of Dublin, and early-morning transatlantic flights had to be diverted to Shannon.

    "We cancelled flights and hope the weather will allow us take off today," a spokesman said. By 8pm last night, four flights had landed at Dublin Airport but none had taken off.

    Please discuss and add more on this event and others. I have the Met Eireann monthly bulletins since mid 99


Comments

  • #2
    Danno
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,912 ✭✭✭Danno


    Recent Snow events (that I remember):

    Dec 29th 2005: Snow for under 1 hour, didn't settle realy at all though.
    Nov 25th 2005: Snow showers overnight giving few cm
    Feb/Mar 2005: Cold snap with some snow
    Jan 01st 2005: Snow showers
    Christmas 2004: Excellent event
    Feb 26th 2004: Northerly gave near 3 hours snowfall. Thawed quickly though.
    Nov 18th 2003: Hill snow above 200m
    Dec 29th 2002: Snow showers - not much settled for long.
    Feb 27th 2002: Heavy overnight snow showers
    Dec 29th 2001: Snow showers - small amounts settled
    Dec 25th 2001: Snow showers before Christmas night passed away
    Feb 26th 2001: Snow showers, turning to sleet later - remember Dub event
    Dec 29th 2000: Whiteouts - not much lying snow though.
    And my favourite:
    Dec 21st 1995 to
    Jan 12th 1996: Severe cold spell from an easterly with ice days and lots of snow! It snowed every day during that spell.
    Dec 24th 1994: Snowfall, great covering of 8-10 inches
    Feb 14th 1994: Whiteouts.

    Other spells I remember - without specific dates:
    Nov 1993
    Jan 1991
    Jan 1987
    Feb 1986


  • #3
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Danno,
    nothing wrong with your memory :eek: ;)

    although the bulk of them didn't amount to much.


  • #4
    CerebralCortex
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,811 ✭✭✭CerebralCortex


    What about Christmas 00/01? I remember a **** load of snow around that time? 4 days at least. ???????


  • #5
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    CerebralCortex wrote:
    What about Christmas 00/01? I remember a **** load of snow around that time? 4 days at least. ???????

    Possibly the event that I refered to in this post in another thread

    Dec 26th-30th 2000.

    If you want I'll give further details of that event. Definitely the severest cold spell this decade with air temp down to -14C :eek:


  • #6
    Supercell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,810 ✭✭✭✭Supercell


    Mothman wrote:
    In an effort to keep peeps spirits up (esp Longfield ;)

    Thanks Mothman..am I so desperate for snow its transparent ? ..yep is the answer!!

    Have i given up /, almost ..reckon theres one more cold snap in it before global warming denys it for the forseeable future (next winter seems to be most favourable actually).

    In the meantime, i'm buying my retirement home high up with a view, south of here but with snow in winter most likely even with full blown global warming !!

    Btw I'm reserving my glass of Vino Earthman 2027 right now ;)
    https://www.loughlinstown.ie/


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  • #7
    lucernarian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,243 ✭✭✭lucernarian


    Mothman wrote:
    In an effort to keep peeps spirits up (esp Longfield ) untill the next potential snow event, lets jog our memories.

    It seems that for some of us inc me, our memories are quite short. There are has been snow. Nothing anything approaching 82, but significant enough to be memorable for some.

    Lets start with the infamous 27th February 2001. The day that brought blizzards to a little patch of north Dublin, WC's garden .

    He has mentioned this soooooo many times now, but very few others seem to remember. So was there anything outside his garden?
    Eh, hello?:D I was mocking WC about how many of my neighbours had to get their driveways bulldozed. My neighbour who is a builder had to clear about 2 or 3 miles of roads as the county council weren't to be seen.

    I think I mentioned this before, but on the Sunday after that Shrove Tuesday I found 90 cm drifts on the eastern side of hedges on the top of the hill for example. My patio has a layer of ice on it for over a week after the event.

    That day means as much to me as it did to Weathercheck and it's the worst I remember in my lifetime.

    I have to say that Drogheda got less than half the amount I did so height may have been a huge factor. Electricity was off there as well as home and my school was officially closed for the day, it being one of the places needing a bulldozer IIRC.

    In short, it was a great day:)


  • #8
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,785 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Livigno Italy january 1999
    There was already about 2 or 3 feet of snow and huge drifts(possibly 30ft or more in the forests) - plenty for the ski-ing.
    The Temp at night regularally went down to -22 which makes the hairs in your nostrils go stiff.
    Daytime maxes were around -8c in brilliant sunshine.
    We were afraid for a couple of days to drink the tap water because we couldnt understand how the pipes hadnt frozen like they would in Ireland-we thought there was anti freeze in the water :D We drank it on day 3 as at this stage the apres ski and the ridiculously cheap beer was causing us to get very dehydrated and hung over.

    The minute the sun went down the numerous digital clocks displaying the current temperature dropped like a stone to the minus 20 mark.

    It was gas we would be all kitted out in our Ski gear(except the boots :eek:) sitting outside eating our dinner and as the sun went down the jug of wine would start to freeze!

    Then on the friday it got cloudy and started to snow lightly but by mid afternoon it got very very heavy and was a total Blizzard-much like 1982 here only worse.
    There was a channell dug through the snow to our chalet which was about 3ft high at either side of the path way and by night fall this was completely full.
    We went clubbing that night in the village and it took about 5 or 10 minutes for the snow to melt off our coats as we entered each of the clubs.
    We hired out sleighs that night too and tabogganed down the road and had many snow fights-great crack!

    It snowed all night and the next morning it was time to get on the bus for the airport which was leaving at about noon.
    It was still snowing heavily with poor visability but the traffic was moving and the roads were being kept clear.
    Everything had snow chains on the wheels.


  • #9
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    To_be_confirmed wrote:
    I have to say that Drogheda got less than half the amount I did so height may have been a huge factor.
    Attachment shows photo (no scanner) of snow depth map in the monthly bulletin.for 27th Feb 2001


  • #10
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Earthman wrote:
    Livigno Italy january 1999
    No details at hand on this event :p


  • #11
    lucernarian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,243 ✭✭✭lucernarian


    Earthman, that was quite an impressive snowfall though I'd expect nothing less if I was on a ski holiday:p That will never happen in Ireland unless the North Atlantic Drift halts or something drastic like that happens. Tbh, I wouldn't want that kind of weather over here, unless it lasted for at most a week.
    Mothman wrote:
    Attachment shows photo (no scanner) of snow depth map in the monthly bulletin.for 27th Feb 2001
    Lol, the Wee County surely scooped the best snow that day! Where did you get that map Mothman? Do you have the monthly bulletins in a book or something?

    That map certainly doesn't take altitude into account then, apart from the obvious exception of the Cooley Peninsula. We had non-drifting snow of around 15 cms while I was told by someone living further up the road that there was "over 8 inches on the road" before it was cleared. He may have exaggerated a bit but not much. That map would be a good average of the amounts in the areas marked I'd say.


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  • #12
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    To_be_confirmed wrote:
    Lol, the Wee County surely scooped the best snow that day! Where did you get that map Mothman? Do you have the monthly bulletins in a book or something?

    That map certainly doesn't take altitude into account then, apart from the obvious exception of the Cooley Peninsula. We had non-drifting snow of around 15 cms while I was told by someone living further up the road that there was "over 8 inches on the road" before it was cleared. He may have exaggerated a bit but not much. That map would be a good average of the amounts in the areas marked I'd say.

    Firstly, the depths are not maximum depths, but the depth at 0900UTC, which is the time of the daily observation. So add any snowfall after that time to depth.
    See here on Met Eireann site for details on monthly bulletin.
    I started receiving it in 1999 and so have them all at hand now. Annual sub now €80 :( and it takes about 10 weeks to publish, so latest month I have is September.


  • #13
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,785 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Also I'd like to add that the snow depth at fosters Garage in monaglough about 500ftasl and 4 miles from here was at least a foot deep and not 2cms.

    2cms would have been about right for here though-the difference 3 miles inland and with the extra height was astounding.
    Ballycogue slightly higher up and about a mile further in again had even more.

    I also know that the roads around roundwood were like world war 2 trenches that week with the snow dug out at either side meaning that you were effectively driving through a tunnel.
    That wouldnt have been 5 cms, 10cms or 20cms either.
    It would have been more like a foot and a half.


  • #14
    Danno
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,912 ✭✭✭Danno


    Reminds me of Jan '87 - proper snow event. Around 2 feet of snow and up to 4 or five drifts - not bad so far inland - he he! :D:D:D


  • #15
    Danno
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,912 ✭✭✭Danno


    Mothman wrote:
    Danno,
    nothing wrong with your memory :eek: ;)

    although the bulk of them didn't amount to much.

    Giving my age away probably!!! Only mid 20s here!!!

    They did amount to enough for here so far inland - alot of them were shower based events - so to get them so far in to the country with that impact was impressive!! :D

    Frontal snow - usually from a mild vs cold does not so alot here as Im still quite a far bit south - the Kilkenny border is only 1 mile away after all! as Thursday night proved! :(

    I like my NW polar lows as the Nore valley - really defined here - funnels it into this location. Whiteouts are the best!

    I'd love to see the sypnotic charts for late Dec 1995 to evaluate what happened to deliver so much cold here - places 15 miles away to the SW were relatively untouched - it was really something else!


  • #16
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    A bit more about the late Feb 2001 snowy spell, The picture on the cover of the March 2001 Monthly Weather Bulletin is of deer in a snowy Phoenix Park, along with note
    Cold weather at the beginning of the month allowed snow to lie for several days in Dublin's Phoenix Park

    Casement recorded -9C air temp on the 1st March and kilkenny recorded 15.4C grass min, the lowest grass min temp for March at the station.

    So there was snow on ground for a whole week in some lowland areas.


  • #17
    ninebeanrows
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,780 ✭✭✭✭ninebeanrows


    Well here in 2001 my greatest snow event of my snowless life:D

    We had snow from around 2am on the 27th and it didnt stop until around 8pm that night, although i recall it get lighter at around 4.

    We had about 20cm's of snow lying by evening and it would have been much
    more if the snow had of been powdery rather than wetter. The wind made the snow so much more exciting, to see poles and all objects literally plastered with snow and even on the smallest poles! my wind was almost fully covered with the plastered snow! The drifts up against the houses on my street were more around 2-3 feet! I was so enchanted by the snow i like watched it falling for hours and didnt want anyone or any cars to touch, i would nearly get upset if i saw someone ruining it:o But then when my arch nemuses of a neighbour went out and started wrecking it, i went out too! made some massive snow boulders and snowmen while diving into these drifts of snow!

    It was great craic and unfortunately the best snowfall of my life.

    It was like a real Boston style snow storm:D

    And yep the snoe then froze that night and stayed on the ground for numerous days!
    It became dangerous as the snow froze into big sheets of ice outside peoples houses and
    there was even icicles to go with it!


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