Severe Thunderstorm July 25th/26th 1985

legendal · 09-07-2009 2:15am

This was a bit before my time, but I've been looking up some of the Irish Times's coverage of this from the time itself for a programme I'm working on. Here's what I've found out:

July 26, 1985 paper:

Met Éireann spokesman: "None of us can remember anything like this before, and some us of us have been here 25 years here. It's quite unusual to see this degree of electricity without high rainfall."
The worst affected areas were to the north. Cattle were killed by lightning in some areas. Most of the south and west escaped the worst of the storms.
All Dublin stations suffered temporarty cuts, and Gardaí were inundated with false alarms as security systems were set off all over the city.

July 27, 1985 paper:

Thunder started in north Leinster on Thursday afternoon (July 25)
Thursday was humid and the warm moisture from the ground rose and formed cumulonimbus clouds up to 40,000 feet high.
Heaviest falls of rain in 100 years recorded in parts of Northern Ireland
Severe flooding in Newry and other towns
Hailstones “as large as golf balls” at three locations in the Mourne Mountains
Miss Maddie Lennon received burns to her face after a lightning strike to a tin roof on her farm on the Fermanagh-Cavan border
Tens of thousands were without electricity and telephone services, which returned to normal on Friday night (July 26) after a major emergency repair operation due to severe lightning
Worst affected areas without electricity were Clonmel, Longford, Mullingar, Kilkenny, Carlow and Thurles.
North Leinster and east Munster were the worst affected areas without phone services
DART operated on Friday morning only between Howth Junction and Connolly as power lines were damaged by lightning. Normal service resumed at 12:45pm.
Aer Lingus reported delays at Dublin Airport, due to problems with radar equipment and landing aids
ESB spokesman: “It was the worst electric storm anyone here can remember.”
Homes damaged by lightning and a wooden chalet adjoining Malahide Golf Club was destroyed, but nobody was injured.
Met Éireann: difficult to compare thunderstorms as the only rainfall can be measured, and there was less rain than the 1963 Mount Merrion thunderstorm when 75mm fell in one hour.
Met Éireann: Rainfall in the 12 hours of Thursday night (July 25) varied from 20-55mm.
Temporary postal sorting office in Blackrock, Co. Dublin and Companies Office among places hit by flooding.
Only the western seaboard escaped without severe electricity disruption
Emergency ESB crews were called out for lightning duty at 3am on Friday morning.
Neither the ESB or Telecom Éireann could confirm how many customers were affected.

Also, in June 25th's paper (still 1985), the PA reported that lightning hit Centre Court at Wimbledon. Six pieces of masonry weighing half a pound each fell from 90 feet, narrowly missing spectators. Nobody was injured. The lightning hit a corner of a new £4 million office section of Centre Court, just as play was about to start on the opening day.

shamwari · 10-07-2009 10:25am

Legendal, is the program going to be about that storm?

legendal · 10-07-2009 4:36pm

It's not I'm afraid, it's a programme I'm hoping to do which looks back at the events and music of a particular year, a bit like Reeling in the Years but it'll be fairly different as it'll be for the radio. It's for a volunteer-run station, and I'm in the early stages of research and whatnot at the mo so there's still a chance that it may not get finished! Hopefully that won't happen though.

shamwari · 10-07-2009 9:52pm

Thanks for that Legendal, keep us informed. As for storms and music, how about the storms of June 1986 coinciding with Simple Minds in Croke Park. That night was the stuff of legends!

legendal · 12-07-2009 2:43am

AFAIK Sanctify Yourself was released in 1986, so combining Simple Minds and the storms would be a runner

On-topic: from reading up on the storms and reading the accounts here I can safely say I've never seen the likes. Must have been pretty terrifying for ye alright!

darkman2 · 12-07-2009 2:57am

The chart for that evening shows a breakdown scenario but very humid and wam air. The continental air mixing with the Atlantic - volitile at the best of times but a violent collision here between airmasses

Normally this occurs on the continent but this was a freak event for Ireland and the UK. With upper temps at 15C and the Atlantic cooler regime pushing to break through - the mother of all battles ensued - this was Atlantic v Continental at it's most vigorous. The Atlantic lost in the end and the warm weather continued. The spectacular show was just a sympthom of the Atlantic actually failing to break a continental flow (which it would do 9 times out of 10). This was very unusual.

kelle · 16-07-2009 6:37am

I remember that evening in 1985 so well! We thought the windows of our house were going to shatter, it sounded like somebody was pounding them with a sledgehammer! And a telephone pole was knocked down in our field. And it lasted throughout the night - we all ended up in bed beside our poor parents!

jptk · 16-07-2009 9:18pm

Ive been sitting on the edge of my seat the last couple of weeks waiting for thunder and lightning and I'm losing hope! I'm in Dublin city center and I am fascinated with thunder and lighting. I have vague memories of a very bad lightning storm in the early 90's. I remember it was early in the morning and I was getting ready for school. The thunder was unbelievably loud it was terrifying.

hawkmoon269 · 19-07-2009 1:25am

I remember it very well. It seemed to go on for hours. The thunder claps were by far the loudest and longest I have ever heard.

Great fun, though not for the inhabitants of a house in a road near us that we discovered the following morning was actually struck by lightning and sustained significant damage, though no-one was injured.

EORaghallaigh · 20-07-2009 10:54pm

i remember this night vividly...

i was only a pup (7) but i remember getting courage to look out my window and seeing the most amazing lightning ever - i have never seen anything like it since.

defined fork lightning started to my east and triggered a chain of fork lighting strikes for about 10 miles - it was like a mexican wave of the most amazing fork lightning ever over about 2 seconds (at least 20 strikes)...

why cant lightning be like it was back then - boo!

we must be due a good supercell soon!

Big Tone · 27-07-2009 3:25pm

Sea Devils wrote: »

I'd put 2006 on your list as well. That was another scorcher iirc

You forgot 1990 was also good and better than 1984.

Summer of '85 was crap here and didn't improve til end of august/start of september.

stylers · 30-07-2009 12:52am

just stumbled on this thread - cool - I was just a "chiseller" back then but I remember those storms of 1985 and one in 1986 very vividly - I remember the 'oul fella always blamed it for stopping his (brand spankin' new) digital watch at the time - it was left on a window cill outside and was totally dead when he found it the next day. I remember the very eerie colour of the sky and the very heavy day. I can still remember seeing ribbon lightning and some sort of weird almost invisible discharges. I think we may have even seen ball lightning. It went on all night. wall to wall lightning.
Needless to say it all made me a bit of a lightning fan - any 'oul rumble and I leg it outside to watch..

road_high · 06-01-2010 9:14pm

Bump

Check out kilkennyweather.com for story on July 85 storm;
http://www.kilkennyweather.com/index.php/1985-worst-thunderstorm

quodec · 06-01-2010 10:55pm

The night of 25th/26th July 1985 is one I'll never forget - from a weather perspective!
The 25th July was on Thursday. I was working in Dundalk that day and followed up with some voluntary work in the town afterwards. The air became noticably 'heavy' and the sky darkened as the evening progressed. I heard one or two distant cracks of thunder around 7-8 pm but then spent the rest of the evening in a pub and later a disco. I eventually exited the town around 2 a.m. and made my way by car south to Dunleer on the (old) Dundalk-Dublin road. It was an amazing journey, one I'll never forget. Though there wasn't much rain the whole sky was continuously lit by what looked like sheet lightning and/or continuous air to ground strikes. I remember shaking in the car and even thinking that I could actually switch the lights of the car off and drive home by the light of the massive lightening display!
Making it to Dunleer I went to bed but one of the windows in the bedroom was open slightly (which I hadn't checked) and I was awakened later by what felt like electricity in the room and a static charge feeling on my shoulder - though I wasn't hurt and didn't feel anything else.
What a night. Will we ever see its like again?

nlgbbbblth · 07-01-2010 10:22pm

quodec wrote: »

The night of 25th/26th July 1985 is one I'll never forget - from a weather perspective!
The 25th July was on Thursday. I was working in Dundalk that day and followed up with some voluntary work in the town afterwards. The air became noticably 'heavy' and the sky darkened as the evening progressed. I heard one or two distant cracks of thunder around 7-8 pm but then spent the rest of the evening in a pub and later a disco. I eventually exited the town around 2 a.m. and made my way by car south to Dunleer on the (old) Dundalk-Dublin road. It was an amazing journey, one I'll never forget. Though there wasn't much rain the whole sky was continuously lit by what looked like sheet lightning and/or continuous air to ground strikes. I remember shaking in the car and even thinking that I could actually switch the lights of the car off and drive home by the light of the massive lightening display!
Making it to Dunleer I went to bed but one of the windows in the bedroom was open slightly (which I hadn't checked) and I was awakened later by what felt like electricity in the room and a static charge feeling on my shoulder - though I wasn't hurt and didn't feel anything else.
What a night. Will we ever see its like again?

thanks for sharing quodec, love reading about that great night in 1985.

Thomas828 · 07-01-2010 10:48pm

July 1985 was a dismal month even by Irish standards. I remember one morning when the clouds were so heavy you'd have sworn it was still night. And another morning of really thick fog, you couldn't see more than a metre or two in front of you, though that cleared up by 2pm.

DWCommuter · 08-01-2010 12:27am

I'm sick of the snow and sick of talking about it to people. So while I wait to see if this snow arrives on Sunday, I'd like to share my experiences of this unique event in 1985.

I was 13 at the time so I was very aware of what was happening. That Thursday I was in Corkagh Park in Clondalkin. By lunchtime the sky was just plain grey and the heaviness and heat was very noticeable especially since the sun wasn't shining. I was making a little film with a few friends on an old super 8mm camera. (the footage actually has the thunder sound on it!) By about 5pm we could hear distant rumbles of thunder but no noticeable lightening. We thought nothing of it. I went home and had my dinner. I remember sitting out the back garden at about 9pm and the rumbles were getting louder, but once again I thought nothing of it as this was common enough. Interestingly these rumbles had been going on all day, yet there was no rain.

Once back indoors I watched some TV and then eventually went to bed. My next ,memory is of being woken up by unmerciful claps of thunder. My room was at the back of the house facing out onto what was then fields. I lay in bed listening and watching. For long periods of time there was just lightening and no thunder at all. Eventually I went to the window and looked out. It was nothing short of a light show. As the back of our house was fields the full effect could be had. Sheet, fork, ribbon and all kinds of lightening were to be seen. When the thunder roared it was the loudest I had ever heard and to this day remains so. As it intensified I admit I got scared and went into my parents room. They were awake too. My sister eventually joined us and we all sat on the bed for the night very frightened, even my parents. This was thunder and lightening like nothing we had ever witnessed. It got so bad that the thunder and lightening appeared simultaneously. Flash followed flash and claps matched it. It was that intense.

My dad was a bit of a gung ho merchant and went to the window. I stupidly joined him and we saw lightening hit the road in front of the house. I remember sparks and dust under the street lights and standing over the hole the next day telling neighbours that lightening did it. It eventually calmed down as the sun came up and we all slept late. The next day it rained a lot and there were still rumbles of thunder to be heard all day. Then RTE did coverage of it on their news and had actual footage of the storm. The hearld was full of stories of how it had done damage across the city. As the weeks and months passed we evetually stopped talking about it, but it left me with a very distinct dislike of thunderstorms.

The following year (86) I was at the Simple minds concert in Croker and a very similar storm happened, but not as intense, yet still way out of the norm. I remember the lightening over the stage and the frightening walk home and no sleep due to the noise. Im 38 now and I have never experienced anything in Ireland like that since. I did experience it in 99 in Tenerife and it was even more terrifying as the buildings there aren't quite as insulated as they are in Ireland.

Will we ever see electrical storms like this in Ireland again? Who knows. But some of you guys who have never experienced it would probably love it despite the sheer danger it poses. I still wouldn't wish it on you though.

Deep Easterly · 08-01-2010 8:35am

DWCommuter wrote: »

I'm sick of the snow and sick of talking about it to people. So while I wait to see if this snow arrives on Sunday, I'd like to share my experiences of this unique event in 1985.

I was 13 at the time so I was very aware of what was happening. That Thursday I was in Corkagh Park in Clondalkin. By lunchtime the sky was just plain grey and the heaviness and heat was very noticeable especially since the sun wasn't shining. I was making a little film with a few friends on an old super 8mm camera. (the footage actually has the thunder sound on it!) By about 5pm we could hear distant rumbles of thunder but no noticeable lightening. We thought nothing of it. I went home and had my dinner. I remember sitting out the back garden at about 9pm and the rumbles were getting louder, but once again I thought nothing of it as this was common enough. Interestingly these rumbles had been going on all day, yet there was no rain.

Once back indoors I watched some TV and then eventually went to bed. My next ,memory is of being woken up by unmerciful claps of thunder. My room was at the back of the house facing out onto what was then fields. I lay in bed listening and watching. For long periods of time there was just lightening and no thunder at all. Eventually I went to the window and looked out. It was nothing short of a light show. As the back of our house was fields the full effect could be had. Sheet, fork, ribbon and all kinds of lightening were to be seen. When the thunder roared it was the loudest I had ever heard and to this day remains so. As it intensified I admit I got scared and went into my parents room. They were awake too. My sister eventually joined us and we all sat on the bed for the night very frightened, even my parents. This was thunder and lightening like nothing we had ever witnessed. It got so bad that the thunder and lightening appeared simultaneously. Flash followed flash and claps matched it. It was that intense.

My dad was a bit of a gung ho merchant and went to the window. I stupidly joined him and we saw lightening hit the road in front of the house. I remember sparks and dust under the street lights and standing over the hole the next day telling neighbours that lightening did it. It eventually calmed down as the sun came up and we all slept late. The next day it rained a lot and there were still rumbles of thunder to be heard all day. Then RTE did coverage of it on their news and had actual footage of the storm. The hearld was full of stories of how it had done damage across the city. As the weeks and months passed we evetually stopped talking about it, but it left me with a very distinct dislike of thunderstorms.

The following year (86) I was at the Simple minds concert in Croker and a very similar storm happened, but not as intense, yet still way out of the norm. I remember the lightening over the stage and the frightening walk home and no sleep due to the noise. Im 38 now and I have never experienced anything in Ireland like that since. I did experience it in 99 in Tenerife and it was even more terrifying as the buildings there aren't quite as insulated as they are in Ireland.

Will we ever see electrical storms like this in Ireland again? Who knows. But some of you guys who have never experienced it would probably love it despite the sheer danger it poses. I still wouldn't wish it on you though.

That is a fine, spine chilling account DW

, and very similar to my experience of the 86 storm(a largely western event). Just pure 100% violence. Your memory of the rumbles long before the storm hit are also similar to mine. I remember a hazy grey purple sky with no sun and frequent distant and overhead thunder, often without lightning or rain, occurring not only on the day before the main storm, but for several days afterwards, it was a very eerie, but very potent, experience, and one I can never see happening again in this country.

I live in hope though.

Ally Dick · 08-01-2010 4:35pm

DWCommuter wrote: »

The following year (86) I was at the Simple minds concert in Croker and a very similar storm happened, but not as intense, yet still way out of the norm

Was that not the second coming of Bono you were witnessing ? Was that the concert where Simple Minds blew them off the stage ?

SerialComplaint · 02-05-2010 9:45pm

DWCommuter wrote: »

The following year (86) I was at the Simple minds concert in Croker and a very similar storm happened, but not as intense, yet still way out of the norm. I remember the lightening over the stage and the frightening walk home and no sleep due to the noise. Im 38 now and I have never experienced anything in Ireland like that since.

Just Googling about that great gig in Croker - probably the best line-up for a gig that I ever experienced. It was the day that the Waterboys borrowed Steve Wickham (fiddler) from In Tua Nua, and never gave him back.

I remember the forked lightening running the length of Croker towards the stage as the gig came to its climax, like the best special effects you could ever ask for.

torrentum · 14-07-2010 8:52pm

I'll never forget this night. It's burned on my memory forever. It's actually one of my earliest vivid memories - I was 6 at the time. It started at about 6 or 7 pm. I was in the back yard. My father picked me up to see over the high wall at the side of our house and told me to watch the horizon. It wasn't long till I saw why. The bolt of lightning is still clearly visible in my memory as one of the most elaborate and scary I've ever witnessed. My father jokingly called it "spider lightning", cos' thats pretty much what it looked like - big and sprawled all over the sky.
It was amazing how frequent the lightning bolts were.
The situation just kept getting worse and worse as the evening wore on, and by nightfall, the situation could be best described as apocalyptic. Very violent lightning, and extremely loud thunder, sometimes both lightning and thunder happening at the same time. I remember at around 11pm I started to get scared, as both my parents were getting increasingly nervous. Sometimes, the lightning would produce the loudest strangest sounding thunder - with 5 or 6 bangs following each other in a 2 or 3 second interval. I think it was 4am or later by the time it died down enough for us to fall asleep. I've never ever experienced anything remotely close to this, either here or abroad, in terms of intensity, and the length of time the storm lasted.
My parents constantly talk of this storm whenever theres thunder around to this day "Ah thats nothin' compared to 1985, I'll never forget...." and off they'd go telling the story for the millionth time.
Has anyone here got any pics of the storm? Or it's aftermath? I'd really love to see them. Pity the storm didn't happen nearer to the present - could you imagine the wealth of pics/video available.

owenc · 14-07-2010 8:57pm

At least you have something to look up to and know that, the 1985 storm was far worse and that if you can survive that one you'll survive this one.

Danno · 15-07-2010 12:15am

Thanks for all your accounts folks... keep 'em coming. This storm was the reason I took such an interest in the weather. Gosh the 80s had it all, snowstorms, thunderstorms, heatwaves, wind storms... etc!

Deep Easterly · 15-07-2010 12:29am

Danno wrote: »

Gosh the 80s had it all, snowstorms, thunderstorms, heatwaves, wind storms... etc!

not to mention great music and hair!

back when men were real men! :P

WolfeIRE · 15-07-2010 10:57am

my first weather memory also. Remember outside with my Dad too watching this incredible display of forked lightning that seemed to go on all evening.

no wodner eighties hairstyles were so odd with all that electric energy about

maquiladora · 15-07-2010 11:17am

torrentum wrote: »

I'll never forget this night. It's burned on my memory forever. It's actually one of my earliest vivid memories - I was 6 at the time. It started at about 6 or 7 pm. I was in the back yard. My father picked me up to see over the high wall at the side of our house and told me to watch the horizon. It wasn't long till I saw why. The bolt of lightning is still clearly visible in my memory as one of the most elaborate and scary I've ever witnessed. My father jokingly called it "spider lightning", cos' thats pretty much what it looked like - big and sprawled all over the sky.
It was amazing how frequent the lightning bolts were.
The situation just kept getting worse and worse as the evening wore on, and by nightfall, the situation could be best described as apocalyptic. Very violent lightning, and extremely loud thunder, sometimes both lightning and thunder happening at the same time. I remember at around 11pm I started to get scared, as both my parents were getting increasingly nervous. Sometimes, the lightning would produce the loudest strangest sounding thunder - with 5 or 6 bangs following each other in a 2 or 3 second interval. I think it was 4am or later by the time it died down enough for us to fall asleep. I've never ever experienced anything remotely close to this, either here or abroad, in terms of intensity, and the length of time the storm lasted.
My parents constantly talk of this storm whenever theres thunder around to this day "Ah thats nothin' compared to 1985, I'll never forget...." and off they'd go telling the story for the millionth time.
Has anyone here got any pics of the storm? Or it's aftermath? I'd really love to see them. Pity the storm didn't happen nearer to the present - could you imagine the wealth of pics/video available.

I had almost the exact same experience and I was only thinking about it the other day, I was in Kilkenny too at the time and was around 5 years old and its one of my earliest and most vivid memories. I remember my father lifting me up so I could see out the window and the entire sky was constantly flashing with lightning near and far, in almost every direction like something from a cartoon or movie, I've never seen anything even close to that in Ireland since then.

owenc · 15-07-2010 11:40am

Deep Easterly wrote: »

not to mention great music and hair!

back when men were real men! :P

You mean weird hairstyles!:eek:

torrentum · 15-07-2010 2:54pm

Danno wrote: »

Thanks for all your accounts folks... keep 'em coming. This storm was the reason I took such an interest in the weather. Gosh the 80s had it all, snowstorms, thunderstorms, heatwaves, wind storms... etc!

Danno, this storm is also the reason I'm facinated with the weather, especially Tstorms. I think this storm shaped the mindset of a lot of the people who experienced it; to either make them nervous/afraid of thunder, or, as in my case, to like it. The weather of the 80's really makes the weather of the last few years look relatively tame.

Mr Benevolent · 15-07-2010 3:35pm

The weather of the 80's really makes the weather of the last few years look relatively tame.

So now even the weather was better in the old days? Come on.

Min · 15-07-2010 9:48pm

I have a love/hate relationship with thunderstorms.

I love looking at lightning, I love the fact it puts nitrogen into the ground so is great for grass.
I hate working outside if there is a thunderstorm as there is always a risk.
I do be concerned for my cattle if the storm is severe as I will always remember on my uncle's farm where the storm in 1985 killed 8 of his cattle.

The storm in 1985 will be a storm that will continue to be talked about for the decades to come, maybe like the snowstorm of 1947.

I was looking at some data and I see near where I live 21mm of rain fell in a 15 minute period.
I will remember it as we here were caught out in it, in a field with several lightning strikes in the field and the sheer fear, the length it went on for and the noise of it - both rain and thunder.

It is the type of weather that needs respect due to the danger.

Severe Thunderstorm July 25th/26th 1985

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