Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

The forgotten heatwave of 1989

  • 18-03-2019 10:26pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭


    I know it's a bit early in the year yet to talking about heatwaves but this has going around my head the last few days. In this country if you mention a memorable heatwave 1976 and 1995 are always the first to come to mind with last years heatwave, 2013, 2006 and 2003 following close behind as well as a lesser extent the heatwaves of 1983 and 1984. Yet 1989 is completely overlooked despite being a very prolonged heatwave all summer from what I've seen (at least it was across the pond in the UK) . Why is this exactly and does any know why it's usually overlooked/forgotten about ?


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 9,601 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    I remember being on holiday in Wales that year and it was like a cooker - twas a very enjoyable summer after a run of several poor ones


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,477 ✭✭✭✭sryanbruen


    I tend to find that August 1947 is the forgotten gem rather than Summer 1989 although I do find it underrated too. July 1989 broke some records at the time for warmest and sunniest July on record in places though not as warm as July 1983 for some.

    June 1989 was quite mixed but there was a notable warm spell mid-month whilst August was dull and unsettled. May and July were the highs of that Summer.

    Don’t have stats right in front of me at the moment so this is all going off of memory.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,039 ✭✭✭force eleven


    I remember Shannon hit 30 degrees on one day in July that year and was mentioned on BBC weather in passing as a hotspot that day in these islands. I think there were a few 28/29 days as well that year, so yes it is forgotten a bit, but at the time we had had a dismal run of summers prior to that so was notable at the time.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,426 ✭✭✭ZX7R


    Summer of 89 ,is one that stand's out in my memory it a coming of age summer for me, one of the best periods of my childhood.beachs BBQs the summer seemed endless that year in the East anyways or as my selective memory tell's me ha ha


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,318 ✭✭✭✭Dial Hard


    I remember it well, mostly because it was so hot our school principle allowed us to ditch our uniforms and wear our own clothes for the last two weeks of school. It was a convent school so this was a HUGE deal. I was in first class and our classroom was a prefab so it was like an oven.


  • Advertisement
  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,829 ✭✭✭Cork Boy 53


    sryanbruen wrote: »
    I tend to find that August 1947 is the forgotten gem rather than Summer 1989 although I do find it underrated too. July 1989 broke some records at the time for warmest and sunniest July on record in places though not as warm as July 1983 for some.

    June 1989 was quite mixed but there was a notable warm spell mid-month whilst August was dull and unsettled. May and July were the highs of that Summer.

    Don’t have stats right in front of me at the moment so this is all going off of memory.

    I remember that we also had very warm dry weather for much of May 1989. I distinctly recall getting sunburnt in early May that year.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,477 ✭✭✭✭sryanbruen


    I remember that we also had very warm dry weather for much of May 1989. I distinctly recall getting sunburnt in early May that year.

    I said May and July were the highs of that Summer. I did a post for you if I remember correctly on May 1989 last year in the stats thread.

    I made a graph last year too consisting of multiple stations' daily maximum temperatures during June to August 1989. Looking back on it, it's pretty crap so I have gone and redone it here and added May 1989 too along with some more Irish stations.

    C6jc6wC.png

    July 1989 had 29 consecutive days at Kilkenny with 20c or more (including 7 consecutive days with 25c or more, would be 11 consecutive days if others weren't separated by one 23c day), not as much as July to August 1995 but still excellent by Ireland standards.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,473 ✭✭✭Jpmarn


    I sort remember bailing hay on the 30th or the 31st of May. Probably it was either 1989 or 1991.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,474 ✭✭✭Obvious Desperate Breakfasts


    I was six; it was the first time I got badly sunburned. I remember peeling huge chucks of skin off my back.


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,550 ✭✭✭✭nacho libre


    I remember it for two reasons; the heat, and my older sister's French friend coming to visit.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 989 ✭✭✭MrDerp


    I was six; it was the first time I got badly sunburned. I remember peeling huge chucks of skin off my back.

    I remember the sunburn too. I was 7, and my back was destroyed. Couldn’t get a soft enough t shirt for comfort and big chunks peeling off eventually. Competition with the brothers to peel the biggest chunk of skin off each other’s backs.

    My other memory that same summer was a roasting hot couple of days bagging turf in the bog, and my uncles car running out of petrol or overheating on day 2 so we were stranded on the bog road in baking heat for hours.


  • Registered Users Posts: 213 ✭✭smokie72


    I was 16 in the summer of 1989. May and July were very warm and dry. June and August weren't bad either. I remember the Rep. of Ireland playing Malta and Hungary at the end of May/beginning of June and the weather was brilliant. The grass was yellow/brown by the time we went back to school in September. This video reminds me of the good weather we had that summer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEjU9KVABao

    If I remember correctly the winter of 1988/89 was a mild one as well. March and April were cool but the end of November up to February was very mild. Remember playing football on Valentine's day in a t shirt!


  • Registered Users Posts: 33,721 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    Was on a one week school's holiday to Wexford back then, the weather was so good, but factor 4 sunscreen was all I had and other people putting on baby oil...not so good...I remember the peeling skin of that year...

    It is a pity Kilkenny didn't get a new weather station, no offense to Oak Park, but Kilkenny is sort of unique in Ireland with hills to over 300 metres on its borders and a lower centre which made it have some of the hottest summer days and coldest winter nights.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,474 ✭✭✭Obvious Desperate Breakfasts


    MrDerp wrote: »
    I remember the sunburn too. I was 7, and my back was destroyed. Couldn’t get a soft enough t shirt for comfort and big chunks peeling off eventually. Competition with the brothers to peel the biggest chunk of skin off each other’s backs.

    My other memory that same summer was a roasting hot couple of days bagging turf in the bog, and my uncles car running out of petrol or overheating on day 2 so we were stranded on the bog road in baking heat for hours.

    Oh my god, the sibs and I did this too that time. Children are such freaks. :o:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    yep, i remember the summer of 89...t'was a good one

    was the time of the tinnenam square revolt, Batman in the cinema and Transvision Vamp in the charts

    oh to be young again :cool:


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,477 ✭✭✭✭sryanbruen


    Bit of a zombie thread but I thought I'd post this RTE report from July 1989. It is the first one I've seen from this great summer. Hope they continue to archive all these old weather related news reports because they are a great watch and informative of the things that occurred back then which stats or recollections just can't replace.

    https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21346177-fine-weather/


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,834 ✭✭✭pauldry


    In the West it didnt get as hot (as usual) but lots of sun.

    There was another Summer round then that was brutal and cool but rain kept missing the West. A rare type of Summer too


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,468 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    pauldry wrote: »
    In the West it didnt get as hot (as usual) but lots of sun.

    There was another Summer round then that was brutal and cool but rain kept missing the West. A rare type of Summer too

    I dunno, I was over in Tubbercurry that year and I remember the local CoCo having to hand-shovel sand onto the N17 as the tar was leeching up through the stones. Cars were ruined and butter was the only way to remove the tar from the paintwork!


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,550 ✭✭✭✭nacho libre


    pauldry wrote: »
    In the West it didnt get as hot (as usual) but lots of sun.

    It was warm enough, temperatures were in the mid to high twenties some days. I'm glad we don't get values higher than that very often.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,971 ✭✭✭teednab-el


    I remember 1986 was a warm summer. 1990 and 1991 were good summers too.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 13,477 ✭✭✭✭sryanbruen


    teednab-el wrote: »
    I remember 1986 was a warm summer. 1990 and 1991 were good summers too.

    You're thinking of a different summer, 1986 was not warm. In fact, had the coldest August since 1912 for many with the remnants of Charley giving severe floods.

    EDIT: Must be a typo, I know you're referring to 1989 now.


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,550 ✭✭✭✭nacho libre


    sryanbruen wrote: »
    In fact, had the coldest August since 1912 for many with the remnants of Charley giving severe floods.

    .

    Yes. August 1986 was atrocious. It was cold and wet nearly every day of that month. I remember the Irish Press headlines about the remnants of Hurricane Charley too. I feel old now thinking about it!


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,913 ✭✭✭Danno


    1989 was a decent summer but was it eclipsed by 1990 which was another good summer?


Advertisement