May shocker: strong winds, squally showers, even the potential for wintry showers

Meteorite58 · 03-05-2021 8:58pm

Calming down a bit now here near Tralee, gusted over 70 km/h and split a tree in half in my garden

Could have been worse.

Just 5.0mm here

TTTT · 03-05-2021 9:04pm

Went to Ballybunnion in Kerry this afternoon. Parked the car.
Got out.
Got sandblasted.
Got back into the car.

Haven't experienced a direct onshore wind like that in a long time. Sitting watching the surf and empty beach was weird on May bank holiday.

ronman · 03-05-2021 9:08pm

Strongest winds all day at the moment in noth galway and turned north direction. Has to be gusting near 100. Exposed location. It has really picked up in the last 30 mins.

NIMAN · 03-05-2021 9:19pm

Went out to put some extra weight on the trampoline.

Seems to be getting rougher again now.

An Ri rua · 03-05-2021 11:13pm

An absolute sh1tfest of a day outside Tullamore. The winds gusting possibly stronger now than earlier today.
Up on a hill. Might as well be in a lighthouse..would drive you gaga.

Neddyusa · 03-05-2021 11:20pm

Not too bad a day here in Roscommon. Wet in the morning, windy in the afternoon. My gauge stopped recording but I believe we had less than 15mm and the sun shone for a good few hours. Better than many days last Summer snyway!

pauldry · 04-05-2021 12:00am

Still on the look out for Thursday. Snow possible in Britain. Only 7 to 10c in Ireland and subzero night.

Gonzo · 04-05-2021 12:05am

very heavy bands of showers here all evening and very squally winds, easily the worst day of the year so far.

SouthWesterly · 04-05-2021 12:09am

Meteorite58 wrote: »

Calming down a bit now here near Tralee, gusted over 70 km/h and split a tree in half in my garden Could have been worse.

Just 5.0mm here

Had 10mm over my way with 14mm this month.
Only had 11mm in April.

SouthWesterly · 04-05-2021 12:10am

TTTT wrote: »

Went to Ballybunnion in Kerry this afternoon. Parked the car.
Got out.
Got sandblasted.
Got back into the car.

Haven't experienced a direct onshore wind like that in a long time. Sitting watching the surf and empty beach was weird on May bank holiday.

Regularly get that in Banna.

Maybe I just go there a lot:)

Artane2002 · 04-05-2021 12:41am

pauldry wrote: »

Still on the look out for Thursday. Snow possible in Britain. Only 7 to 10c in Ireland and subzero night.

The GFS 18z has nothing above 13c right until May 17th, the 12z was similarly cool, with a continuation of overnight frosts and temperatures generally struggling to get past 11c. The other models are not as cool as the GFS however.

Graces7 · 04-05-2021 6:42am

Storm Maybug(***) just keeps on giving!

After a loud night out here, a deafening hailstorm around half past five. Calmer just now but no trust left....

And SO COLD! I am going to have to order a bag of coal. IN MAY. That really goes against the grain... NB they have snow in parts of Canada.

West Mayo offshore

Wine Goddess · 04-05-2021 8:06am

SouthWesterly wrote: »

Regularly get that in Banna.

Maybe I just go there a lot:)

Banna!!! Top of my list of beaches to go to once restrictions are lifted......so jealous you can go regularly!

Beechwoodspark · 04-05-2021 9:18am

Very windy all night in north Kildare

One of the kids was up most of the night taking readings and measurements on their new weather station that Santa brought.

The wind really was quite strong for this time of year.

pauldry · 04-05-2021 10:15am

According to Radio parts of Europe has their coldest April in 35 years.

Whats our coldest May? Will this May beat it? I think I remember one that had IMT around 9c but not sure when. 1995 was a brutal May before a good Summer. Can we have a repeat please!

Graces7 · 04-05-2021 10:35am

I was just out at the back taking vegetable peelings to the compost ( home made chicken soup!) ; a field away from the ocean ..north...

Herds of white horses galloping inshore at high speed, with white sheep racing alongside and underneath them. . Blue sky and sunshine..

Too bitter cold to linger long. But total beauty.

West Mayo offshore

Chris_5339762 · 04-05-2021 1:00pm

11c in Cork now, nice and sunny. But the wind outside would cut you in half. Ordinarily this would be excuse enough to head somewhere (anywhere) nicer but not this year.

Gonzo · 04-05-2021 1:17pm

just had a very heavy hail shower which left a brief covering on pavements. Very strange to see this in May.

Alun · 04-05-2021 1:55pm

Serious hailstorm just now here in Bray too.

loughside · 04-05-2021 2:15pm

Alun wrote: »

Serious hailstorm just now here in Bray too.

Know what you mean !!

https://streamable.com/gd7kd3

(mid Co.Down)

Kermit.de.frog · 04-05-2021 2:29pm

Had quite the epic hail shower about an hour a go. Sunny and pleasant 6.5c at the moment.

pauldry · 04-05-2021 3:13pm

Jesus got a fright there when I seen Kermit posting in the thread ...thought ya were going to say blizzard imminent.

KanyeSouthEast · 04-05-2021 4:07pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

11c in Cork now, nice and sunny. But the wind outside would cut you in half. Ordinarily this would be excuse enough to head somewhere (anywhere) nicer but not this year.

“Hold firm” Chris we’ll get out of here allright vaccines and digital cert have to rescue us. My car showing the temp as 4.5 degrees a few mins ago during a shower.

M.T. Cranium · 04-05-2021 4:23pm

Would check May 1996 for temperatures, in the CET record that's the recent cold one (9.1 vs their recent average of 11.7). In our contest, the IMT for five locations has a May average of 11.0 for 1981-2010. April came in one degree below normal (7.4 vs 8.4). But for the CET it came in colder than that (6.4 vs 8.5). So parts of Britain were in that coldest in 35 years region (1986 was 5.8).

SEPT 23 1989 · 04-05-2021 4:55pm

Lovely winter scene here in Newcastle Dublin

everything turning white

Oneiric 3 · 04-05-2021 5:27pm

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Would check May 1996 for temperatures, in the CET record that's the recent cold one (9.1 vs their recent average of 11.7). In our contest, the IMT for five locations has a May average of 11.0 for 1981-2010. April came in one degree below normal (7.4 vs 8.4). But for the CET it came in colder than that (6.4 vs 8.5). So parts of Britain were in that coldest in 35 years region (1986 was 5.8).

The national mean here in that month (May '96) came in at just 9.0c, which is 1.8c below the 81-10 average. The opening days of that month were particularly grisly, with the maxima not breaking 9.0c in parts of the north and east. I don't remember much about this month except that I do recall seeing dry snow falling on a day something like today.

Mean SLP pattern and 850hPa temp anomaly for the month as a whole. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't look to dissimilar to the forecast pattern over the next 7 days or so.

DOCARCH · 04-05-2021 5:33pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Lovely winter scene here in Newcastle Dublin

everything turning white

Hefty hail shower just passed through Dublin 16 and we had a temporary white cover.

Storm 10 · 04-05-2021 7:01pm

Batten down the hatches folks were in for a rough ride next Sunday wind gusting to 354km
ðŸ€£ðŸ€£

M.T. Cranium · 04-05-2021 7:48pm

Looking ahead, tomorrow the coldest uppers arrive over Ulster, 522 dm thickness reaches approx Leitrim to north Leinster and stays there most of the day so in parts of NI as low as 519 dm, 850 mb temps near -6 C, any higher elevation showers could turn to snow or ice pellets.

A bit of a secondary push of cold air on Thursday will at least keep it well below normal to Friday.

Any optimism about temps this weekend looks a bit premature to me, it will certainly try to recover in the southeast and may reach 14 or 15 C there, but the way this next low is coming in, warm advection is very weak and the overcast will kill it off, with a steady rain setting in later and into Sunday. Then it's another three cold days after that.

The GFS gives some promise of a brief warmup around Thursday 13th and Friday 14th where it could be near 20 C. Then there would be yet another cold spell developing in the following week as the winds turn northerly again.

Overall I can't see the mean temperature getting past 10 C at any point before the very end of the month. It may reach 9 C briefly in that warm spell then fall back into the 8s.

NIMAN · 04-05-2021 7:49pm

Hailstoning in North Donegal as I type.

And pretty windy too, not a patch on yesterday but still blustery.

Tyrone212 · 04-05-2021 8:01pm

A bit of sleetyness mixed in at the end of the last shower.

Comhrá · 04-05-2021 8:38pm

Storm 10 wrote: »

Batten down the hatches folks were in for a rough ride next Sunday wind gusting to 354km
&#55356;&#56355;&#55356;&#56355;

Looks like a Michael Fish job. :pac:

Mimon · 04-05-2021 8:46pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Lovely winter scene here in Newcastle Dublin

everything turning white

Hail?

Mimon · 04-05-2021 8:49pm

Bought Kiwi plants a month ago and thought I would get them planted out. They are not doing well in their small pots. Think will have to bite the bullet Friday and get them out, hopefully last real frost on Thursday night?

Oneiric 3 · 04-05-2021 9:20pm

I kinda got to wondering if this ongoing northerly stream has anything to do with (admittedly. very small) ongoing eruption in Iceland? I do remember back in 2010, that the much larger eruption there seemed to coincided with an unusual amount of northerly winds around this time of the year as well.

External Association · 04-05-2021 9:40pm

I remember May 1996 quite well. When you'd be out from 7-9pm it felt like twilight on a cold northerly with frost in the first week of March. Your breath holding visible in the air.

The June Bank Holiday weekend was very cold too. That summer was poor overall bar a warm week mid to late June, 27C in Shannon and a warm week mid July. August was cool and very cloudy.

Tyrone212 · 04-05-2021 10:31pm

Sleet and pockets of snow showing up on netweather radar.

Graces7 · 04-05-2021 11:02pm

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Looking ahead, tomorrow the coldest uppers arrive over Ulster, 522 dm thickness reaches approx Leitrim to north Leinster and stays there most of the day so in parts of NI as low as 519 dm, 850 mb temps near -6 C, any higher elevation showers could turn to snow or ice pellets.

A bit of a secondary push of cold air on Thursday will at least keep it well below normal to Friday.

Any optimism about temps this weekend looks a bit premature to me, it will certainly try to recover in the southeast and may reach 14 or 15 C there, but the way this next low is coming in, warm advection is very weak and the overcast will kill it off, with a steady rain setting in later and into Sunday. Then it's another three cold days after that.

The GFS gives some promise of a brief warmup around Thursday 13th and Friday 14th where it could be near 20 C. Then there would be yet another cold spell developing in the following week as the winds turn northerly again.

Overall I can't see the mean temperature getting past 10 C at any point before the very end of the month. It may reach 9 C briefly in that warm spell then fall back into the 8s.

Gee MT! Cheerful soul! I hear there is snow in parts of Canada...

Actually it is not the temp that is so damaging for my needs (as long as there is no frost) but the high winds. As a serious gardener/grower. My home is small and currently the bathroom is stacked with seed trays taking refuge from wind scorch. Little is germinating.. And the lack of rain until now... Even that first shower saw wee green shoots appearing to gladden my old heart..

As we are of course cut off by the gales also, growing is even more vital. Even the chickweed is not up yet. ( good vitamin- rich eating is chickweed)

Dickie10 · 04-05-2021 11:06pm

External Association wrote: »

I remember May 1996 quite well. When you'd be out from 7-9pm it felt like twilight on a cold northerly with frost in the first week of March. Your breath holding visible in the air.

The June Bank Holiday weekend was very cold too. That summer was poor overall bar a warm week mid to late June, 27C in Shannon and a warm week mid July. August was cool and very cloudy.

yeah i remember ome of these years from the GAA games I know they are only saturdays and sundays but give a good snapshot of weather week to week. i remember that year well because meath won sam. leinster final day v dublin in last sunday in july was a downpour , the kerry v mayo semi final was wet day to and the other semi final meath v tyrone was overcast and cool. i remember the first meath v dublin game in 1991 was june bank holiday sunday very cool and windy as was the replay the following week and third game was in pouring rain, June 1991 must have been a very bad month.

External Association · 05-05-2021 12:29am

Dickie10 wrote: »

yeah i remember ome of these years from the GAA games I know they are only saturdays and sundays but give a good snapshot of weather week to week. i remember that year well because meath won sam. leinster final day v dublin in last sunday in july was a downpour , the kerry v mayo semi final was wet day to and the other semi final meath v tyrone was overcast and cool. i remember the first meath v dublin game in 1991 was june bank holiday sunday very cool and windy as was the replay the following week and third game was in pouring rain, June 1991 must have been a very bad month.

Down to -2C one night in early June 1991. Very cold start. Even the 4th Dublin v Meath game on 6 July was very sunny but only 15-18c.

The summer took off on Saturday 10th August when my Laois lost to Meath in the Leinster final

Mid 20s late August and 28.4c on 5th September 1991 in Valentia. The weather broke shortly after mid September 1991.

Kilkenny v Wexford hurling 1996 first round on June Bank Holiday Sunday was a cold day. I remember the rain Meath v Dublin Leinster final, 10pts to 8pts I think?

Mimon · 05-05-2021 8:15am

External Association wrote: »

Down to -2C one night in early June 1991. Very cold start. Even the 4th Dublin v Meath game on 6 July was very sunny but only 15-18c.

The summer took off on Saturday 10th August when my Laois lost to Meath in the Leinster final Mid 20s late August and 28.4c on 5th September 1991 in Valentia. The weather broke shortly after mid September 1991.

Kilkenny v Wexford hurling 1996 first round on June Bank Holiday Sunday was a cold day. I remember the rain Meath v Dublin Leinster final, 10pts to 8pts I think?

Got ridiculed for telling friends that I remember a decent frost in June. Would have been early 90's so possibly that time.

If I recall correctly July is the only month in Ireland without a frost recorded at one of the weather stations?

Donegal Storm · 05-05-2021 12:04pm

Plenty snow on the hills in Donegal today

Tyrone212 · 05-05-2021 12:20pm

Mimon wrote: »

Got ridiculed for telling friends that I remember a decent frost in June. Would have been early 90's so possibly that time.

If I recall correctly July is the only month in Ireland without a frost recorded at one of the weather stations?

In the North the record low for July is -1.1 in Tyrone and -0.3 in Longford.

Oneiric 3 · 05-05-2021 3:01pm

Mimon wrote: »

Got ridiculed for telling friends that I remember a decent frost in June. Would have been early 90's so possibly that time.

If I recall correctly July is the only month in Ireland without a frost recorded at one of the weather stations?

Met Eireann has the all time July low at -0.3c in Longford:

https://www.met.ie/climate/weather-extreme-records

Ground frosts however, although rare, are not unheard of in July.

pauldry · 05-05-2021 3:27pm

-5.6c record low for May

Any chance of us hitting that?

-3c tonight ...maybe -4c in Mt Dillon/Markree or Mullingar/Dublin Airport

tomcosgrave · 05-05-2021 3:39pm

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

I kinda got to wondering if this ongoing northerly stream has anything to do with (admittedly. very small) ongoing eruption in Iceland? I do remember back in 2010, that the much larger eruption there seemed to coincided with an unusual amount of northerly winds around this time of the year as well.

I was wondering if the weather had anything to do with the eruption of La Soufriere in the Caribbean which is more active than the one in Iceland.

beggars_bush · 05-05-2021 9:11pm

pauldry wrote: »

-5.6c record low for May

Any chance of us hitting that?

-3c tonight ...maybe -4c in Mt Dillon/Markree or Mullingar/Dublin Airport

hope not!

Oneiric 3 · 05-05-2021 10:24pm

tomcosgrave wrote: »

I was wondering if the weather had anything to do with the eruption of La Soufriere in the Caribbean which is more active than the one in Iceland.

God only knows but certainly a lot of ash thrown into the atmosphere from that series of eruptions a couple of weeks back.

tabby aspreme · 05-05-2021 10:34pm

pauldry wrote: »

-5.6c record low for May

Any chance of us hitting that?

-3c tonight ...maybe -4c in Mt Dillon/Markree or Mullingar/Dublin Airport

There was a few nights heavy frost last May, burned the leaves off potatoes, and young trees around here, even damaged a few acres of Norway Spruce I'm growing, which is supposed to have good resistant to late frosts

Dickie10 · 05-05-2021 10:53pm

External Association wrote: »

Down to -2C one night in early June 1991. Very cold start. Even the 4th Dublin v Meath game on 6 July was very sunny but only 15-18c.

The summer took off on Saturday 10th August when my Laois lost to Meath in the Leinster final Mid 20s late August and 28.4c on 5th September 1991 in Valentia. The weather broke shortly after mid September 1991.

Kilkenny v Wexford hurling 1996 first round on June Bank Holiday Sunday was a cold day. I remember the rain Meath v Dublin Leinster final, 10pts to 8pts I think?

wow your good! yes i remember being at wexford v kilkenny i thought it seemed like mid may all right everyone in coats and jackets. i was at it because Meath played Offaly in the first game in hurling , Meath put in a really brave perfermonance i think it was 2-12 to 2-18. yes the dublin -meath leinster final was played in a downpour and we got a famous breakthrough victory, we also had a famous THE breakthrough victory over dublin in july 1986 which was on a downpour as well. the famous 1986 summer!

i think the Laois v Meath leinster final was wet overcast day on August 10th 1991 too. the roscommon semi final was played in beautiful warm day and all ireland final v down where our heart was broken was also lovely and warm. That game still haunts many meath fans....

May shocker: strong winds, squally showers, even the potential for wintry showers

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