Severe Thunderstorm July 25th/26th 1985

maquiladora · 14-08-2013 11:54pm

DOCARCH wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVf4_WglzWA

Cheesy! :P But appropriate for the year!

Like shedweller, I too now very much regret cowering under the sheets/blankets. I was 12 at the time and I don't think I was ever so scared in my life! The constant lightning and thunder was simply unreal.

I was too young to be frightened! I think I was just amazed and entertained by the constant light in the sky, I don't remember the thunder at all.

keith16 · 15-08-2013 12:01am

dopolahpec wrote: »

I was 6 during that storm and my neighbour's house caught fire *sitting room anyway* after a lightning strike. I also saw purplish/pink ball lightning hovering mid-air (seemingly) and also rolling about on heaped topsoil behind our house - quite slowly too.

My father, mother, sister and neighbours experienced it also. None of us ever saw anything like it before or since, to the extent I've questioned whether it even happened. But my family and neighbours assure me it did. For some reason it felt paranormal at the time. Like the regular thunderstorm was merely a cloak for something stranger. A sense that is not helped by never having experienced anything similar since

I was around 3 and I remember everything perfectly about that whole day and I feel the same. Incredible stuff.

shedweller · 15-08-2013 7:53am

My dad was saying he was full sure the house was going to be burnt down. He was close to abandoning ship, although he didnt say he had a plan for how to cross the yard through the st elmos fire to get to a shed or the car. Not to mention the lightning arcing up and down the lane and yard along the water! WTF??!!
The more i write about it the more annoyed i get at myself for not looking out at it! Maybe next time eh?

Oneiric 3 · 25-07-2014 9:34pm

29 years ago tonight. Would say the air mass over Ireland today is not too dissimilar to that which lay over us back on this evening in 1985; and like July 25 1985, we have a cold front moving in from the west. Only missing ingredient this time around is a volatile, moisture packed low moving up from Biscay.

Looking at reanalysis maps, would take a guess and say that the main frontal zone - embedded and pivoting around the Biscay low - lay in a SE-NW alignment over the south and west of the country. with the main thrust of storms occurring separately and away from this main zone (at least initially) and more as part of a possible embedded trough that may have developed that evening in the actual warm sector.

Would love to see some old frontal analysis maps from this night.

26-07-2014 12:11am

I was 5 then in 1985, I don't think I remember it.

I do remember bad storms in the years 86-89

I think one year maybe 1987, there was bad thunder and lightning a few days in a row and I remember one morning it got so dark that the street lights came on.

I remember the neighbours talking about seeing lightning hovering or bouncing off the ground and the smell after ?

I used to be really scared of it, I do remember some pretty intense storms, from about 1986-89, I've never seen the likes since.

People get excited about thunder here now today, but it's nothing like I remember back then.

I don't consider a Thunderstorm to be one flash and bang every 3-5 mins.

I remember the dark orange red glow in the sky in the south, south east, it would be there all afternoon and I'd hear the Thunder from about 5pm and it would be over us about midnight and was very intense until 4-5am or so. The rain was incredible and hailstones, again the likes I've never experienced since. I remember lots of crop damage those times too.

I think those were the days Met Eireann used to use a stick and used to point to charts on a wall ? or am I imagining it ? anyway all I remember was hearing the Bay of Biscay, Bay of Biscay and I knew it was going to be really bad.

These days storms that originate in the Bay of Biscay move over France all the time and sometimes the U.K.

I don't know if we'll ever see the likes of it again, certainly hasn't been anything like it in this part of the Island since then.

acequion · 26-07-2014 2:02am

That summer will always be so vivid in my mind with my father,a very young man, dying of cancer.But apart from that and constant grey skies,my most vivid recollections from that July, are of Live Aid,moving statues and Kerry babies.Does anyone know if that thunderstorm hit Kerry?

degrassinoel · 26-07-2014 2:14pm

I remember that night really well, i would have been nine, and it was the loudest thing i've ever heard, also the greatest show of nature's fury i've ever witnessed.

Didnt sleep a wink, couldn't with the constant booms and cracks and low deafening rumbles. First and only time I've ever seen what i believe to be ball lightning - although it wasn't ball shaped, more like a longer lasting streak of pure luminous blue - lasted about 5 or six seconds before it fizzled out, at least that's how i remember it anyway. I love thunder and lightning storms, but i'm not sure i'd like to experience one like '85 again, as terrifying as it was awesome at that age

Harps · 26-07-2014 6:17pm

Does anyone know of a more recent example of what these storms would have been like? Would they be equivalent to what we see in northern France/Germany during Spanish Plume events?

Just trying to get an idea of the intensity of it as half the country seems to remember it and it's unusual to have one event stick out so much

Kalimah · 26-07-2014 6:32pm

I just reported a post there a minute ago. Sorry - this phone is desperately sensitive.

I was posting about the storm of June 85. My mother was in hospital dying of cancer and I remember going in to see her the next day asking had she heard much of it. We lived out near the mountains and the thunder and lightning was incredible. I spent most of the night under the stairs terrified.

PukkaStukka · 26-07-2014 8:04pm

Harps wrote: »

Does anyone know of a more recent example of what these storms would have been like? Would they be equivalent to what we see in northern France/Germany during Spanish Plume events?

Just trying to get an idea of the intensity of it as half the country seems to remember it and it's unusual to have one event stick out so much

I've experienced continental storms in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, and that storm in '85 is by far the spectacular and violent I've ever experienced. Believe me, those big bangers on the continent didn't go anywhere near what went off here.

I'd go as far as to say that '85 was a display of Meteorological savegery the likes of which we we'll never see in this country again.

Harps · 26-07-2014 9:52pm

When I say continental storms I mean proper supercell/MCS storms which are just about as severe as you can get in Europe

Something like this..

26-07-2014 11:35pm

Isn't it true lightning doesn't strike the ground but flows from ground up to cloud ?

torrentum · 27-07-2014 2:22am

Harps wrote: »

When I say continental storms I mean proper supercell/MCS storms which are just about as severe as you can get in Europe

Something like this..

That video is almost exactly as I remember it. Amazing. Terrifying.

torrentum · 27-07-2014 2:23am

Would you believe, I think of that storm every July without fail. I hope I witness it again sometime. But to be honest, I would be nervous of the extreme intensity of light and sound.

leahyl · 27-07-2014 10:50pm

My mum speaks about this all the time - I had only just been born in the May and my brother was only 4 and she remembers sitting in the downstairs bedroom, on the bed, looking out at the torrential rain flowing down the hill of our estate, and the phone was hopping off the hook because of the lightning......

findra · 08-10-2014 3:03pm

Just googled 'youghal thunderstorm 1985' to see if I was imagining who bad it was and came onto this site. I was 8 at the time. It was a very heavy, muggy day and we were up from a friends holiday home in youghal as my brother had to see an eye doctor. We went back to youghal in the evening and we were in a house overlooking the big river/estuary coming into youghal. At around 6.30 it started crackling and there were forks regularly appearing over the river. It just kept going and going all night. I remember going into bed with my brother and dad awake the whole night. (the parents divided up the kids with each of them as it was that bad and my mothers snoring along with the thunder was scaring the **** out of me) One thing I remember was going out to the toilet and every few seconds there was a bright flash and accompanying thunder. It was constant like that for hours. Then later in the night, a blinding flash even though I had my eyes closed and was under the covers followed by the largest bang I ever heard. I remember it as the building shaking! Crazy night!

pharmaton · 08-10-2014 5:04pm

I remember this well too, I think anyone young enough to remember this as part of their childhood would prob have a bit of fear of thunderstorms given the intensity of it. My father had left on a working trip to the states the previous evening and it was the first time I had ever been away from him, he was trying to contact us when he landed but we couldn't answer the phone and it was two days before he was able to communicate with us. It just sounded like the sky was being ripped in two with every strike and it went on non stop for what seemed like days. It prob not unreasonable that I would associate storms with all those feelings from back then. Terrifying stuff.

Lucy B · 09-10-2014 9:30pm

My mom speaks of this storm from time to time. I was 3 so don't remember it. Her and my dad just sat there all day watching it from the bedroom window. She said she really was scared as the lightning struck down into the field in front of our house numerous times.

Eugbug · 22-06-2016 9:15am

This is a report by Met Eireann on the event, and it was on the night of the 25th of July 1985, extending into the 26th.
From what I can remember, the lightning frequency was every couple of seconds, like those dramatic storms you see in films. In Naas, lots of shops were flooded and loads of phone lines were knocked out. Crops were also flattened by the hailstones. I took this (crappy quality) photo of lightning near a community TV aerial about a hundred metres away from the back of my house. Unfortunately all the photos I took were over exposed and whenever there's a storm at night now, I'm always trying to get a decent photograph.

http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/weather-events/July1985_Thunderstorm.PDF

uploading pictures

Danno · 22-06-2016 10:53am

Great snap - oh, if only we had the phones with cameras back then like we do today, we'd have some videos/pics to show!

The fork lightning in that pic is awesome and to remember it flashing down every couple of seconds in every direction was awesome to watch. Maybe some day we'll get another show like it.

22-06-2016 11:00am

We had a good few bad storms between 85-90, 85 was probably the worst alright but definitely there were some fantastic storms and certainly some crop flattening hail.

I remember the older folk saying they were saying prayers that night in 85 it was that bad and a few storms after, my Grandmother included. And not only that they used to go around covering the mirrors with sheets ?

I don't know why the atmosphere has changed so much in the last 30 odd years, I definitely think the climate has cooled and got cloudier. I can remember summer thunder showers and then the sun would come out after and you'd see the steam rise off the roads and buildings like a big fog and the humidity would be dreadful.

Our summers have definitely got a lot crappier.

Eugbug · 22-06-2016 11:05am

Danno wrote: »

... Maybe some day we'll get another show like it.

Yeah, I live in hope:) They got some good ones in the midlands in the last few weeks - They always seem to happen somewhere else though!

22-06-2016 11:07am

I'm hoping for a few good ones when I go to Germany in August but sadly so far every time I go there it's either roasting and dry , Dull and wet or the very odd rumble in the distance.

weisses · 22-06-2016 11:12am

The weather is getting more severe on the continent the last couple of years (summers).

the 85 event is a regular occurrence over there

Eugbug · 22-06-2016 11:15am

Took this pic one evening in 2003. These are called mammatus clouds and this was the actual colour of the sky. It was an anti-climax though and nothing happened.

image sharing

Padster90s · 30-06-2016 11:56am

Has anyone recollections of a severe thunderstorms in September 2005 or 2006? I was at my parents in N'East Galway. Can't remember the the year but it was the worst storm I remember. It was just like strobe lights were pointed at all the windows the lightening was so bad.

PukkaStukka · 27-10-2017 3:33pm

RTE Archives have added their report on this hallowed nights events. A shame it doesn't do the night the justice it deserves!!

http://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21200391-freak-storm-causes-damage

PukkaStukka · 07-02-2018 8:54pm

RTE archives have added their coverage of the June 1986 thunderstorm

http://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21219093-thunder-and-lightning-storm-damage/

acequion · 09-02-2018 2:27am

Deleted User wrote: »

We had a good few bad storms between 85-90, 85 was probably the worst alright but definitely there were some fantastic storms and certainly some crop flattening hail.

I remember the older folk saying they were saying prayers that night in 85 it was that bad and a few storms after, my Grandmother included. And not only that they used to go around covering the mirrors with sheets ?

I don't know why the atmosphere has changed so much in the last 30 odd years, I definitely think the climate has cooled and got cloudier. I can remember summer thunder showers and then the sun would come out after and you'd see the steam rise off the roads and buildings like a big fog and the humidity would be dreadful.

Our summers have definitely got a lot crappier.

I would agree, though that summer 1985 was about as crappy as you'll ever get. I distinctly remember it as my late father was dying that summer and the weather was so bad he could never be taken outside.

Kermit.de.frog · 09-02-2018 7:02am

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

I can remember another brilliant storm on August 25th 2000 though nowhere near as violent as 1985 it was a fantastic electrical display.

I remember this as a child living near the east coast. Not much rain with it though. The lightning was mainly out over the Irish sea.

09-02-2018 7:30am

If I remember correctly this is the storm that I witnessed my first sprite is that what you call it ? basically like a mushroom cloud going up into the sky. This was from a distance though. Never saw anything like it again it was really amazing. My friend and I were amazed , saw a good few of those.

sryanbruen · 09-02-2018 7:59am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

We had a good few bad storms between 85-90, 85 was probably the worst alright but definitely there were some fantastic storms and certainly some crop flattening hail.

I remember the older folk saying they were saying prayers that night in 85 it was that bad and a few storms after, my Grandmother included. And not only that they used to go around covering the mirrors with sheets ?

I don't know why the atmosphere has changed so much in the last 30 odd years, I definitely think the climate has cooled and got cloudier. I can remember summer thunder showers and then the sun would come out after and you'd see the steam rise off the roads and buildings like a big fog and the humidity would be dreadful.

Our summers have definitely got a lot crappier.

It has not cooled, the 1990s and 2000s were the warmest decades on record - at least in comparison to decades since the 1900s. It has not gotten cloudier. In fact, it’s gotten sunnier with 2010 being the sunniest on record for many. 1955 still stands at the sunniest year for others. There’s far more sunnier than average months now than there used to be.

The worst Summer still is Summer 1912, worse than 2012, 2007, 2008, 1985, 1986 etc. August 1912 was the coolest, wettest and dullest Summer month on record. The CET for the month was only 12.9c.

Anyway, getting a bit off topic here to the main point of this thread.

That was an amazing video of the July 1985 thunderstorm. I’ve never cared for thunderstorms but my god, that was truly crazy.

NAGDEFI · 10-02-2018 1:23am

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

I remember this as a child living near the east coast. Not much rain with it though. The lightning was mainly out over the Irish sea.

I was working in Dublin at the time. It started around 11am that Friday and continued for over 12 hours.

NAGDEFI · 10-02-2018 1:26am

There was a tidy little 3 hour thunderstorm in the south midlands on the last Monday of July 1991. It was brewing while i was playing a match and kicked off at 10pm on the way home. The 1980s was full of summer thunderstorms. Never seem to get these type storms now.

10-02-2018 2:03am

Well, I remember warmer days in Summer, days where the Sun would be out baking and then the thunder clouds role in and you'd get frequent thunder showers and some cracks of thunder then the Sun would come out and you could see the steam rise off the road and roofs of houses, don't see this much now be cause we are having less and less warmer Sunnier Summers.

10-02-2018 2:05am

sryanbruen wrote: »

It has not cooled, the 1990s and 2000s were the warmest decades on record - at least in comparison to decades since the 1900s. It has not gotten cloudier. In fact, it’s gotten sunnier with 2010 being the sunniest on record for many. 1955 still stands at the sunniest year for others. There’s far more sunnier than average months now than there used to be.

.

Yes the 90's and 00's were warmer on average but since the Mid 00's ? there has not been any real warm sunny Summers.

I remember better weather in the 80's too.

sryanbruen · 10-02-2018 10:48am

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes the 90's and 00's were warmer on average but since the Mid 00's ? there has not been any real warm sunny Summers.

I remember better weather in the 80's too.

That's because of the frequent negative NAO in Summers, we've had an unusual long run of negative NAO in Summers. You have to go back to the 1960s to find a similar period. The only positive NAO Summers since 2007 are 2013 (the Summer with the notable July heatwave) and 2017 - with 2017 only slightly positive. 2018 is not looking that great either, at least from a historical point of view - I'm hoping it will be much better than it looks.

The 2010s has been the coolest decade since the 1980s.

If you'd like to know any statistics regarding Ireland for any month, season etc, I'm all ears in the Irish Weather Statistics thread.

10-02-2018 11:26pm

Coldest since the 80's ? but I remember much finer spells in the 80's with a lot more days of warm to very warm weather.

Gaoth Laidir · 11-02-2018 12:24am

Amazing that 1985 sticks in so many people's memories (it's what got me interested in meteorology) when it's such a common occurrence every year on the near continent (and even England many years). What's seldom is wonderful...

PukkaStukka · 11-02-2018 1:07am

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

Amazing that 1985 sticks in so many people's memories (it's what got me interested in meteorology) when it's such a common occurrence every year on the near continent (and even England many years). What's seldom is wonderful...

It was absolutely unprecedented in terms of the sheer amount of lightning strikes and unsurpassed since. An incredible experience.

Gaoth Laidir · 11-02-2018 1:10am

PukkaStukka wrote: »

It was absolutely unprecedented in terms of the sheer amount of lightning strikes and unsurpassed since. An incredible experience.

I remember it well. A real strobelightshow. One particular flash and bang caused the clock radio beside the bed to pop. A transformer on the road had surged.

PukkaStukka · 11-02-2018 1:15am

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

I remember it well. A real strobelightshow. One particular flash and bang caused the clock radio beside the bed to pop. A transformer on the road had surged.

In the storm of '86, the nearby house of an acquaintance was struck by lightning. The chimney stack was blown clean off the roof and the chimney breast inside the house was split open like someone had taken an axe to it. I'll never forget the clap of thunder that accompanied that strike. It was like a rocket going off and I jumped in the bed with the shock I got. Absolutely insane storms they were.

11-02-2018 1:20am

I'm not sure if I remember 85 or 86 or both, I was 5 and 6 years old but I do remember being terrified especially when the power went out. I certainly wasn't out looking at it lol.

I do remember it being very very loud and never stopping.

What I found the next day particularly surprising was the amount of crop damage in the fields.

Gaoth Laidir · 11-02-2018 1:22am

12Z visible satellite images and charts from 25th & 26th July, 1985.

sryanbruen · 11-02-2018 1:22am

Deleted User wrote: »

Coldest since the 80's ? but I remember much finer spells in the 80's with a lot more days of warm to very warm weather.

I answered to this in the Irish Weather Statistics thread because I really don't want to clog up this awesome thread to do with the amazing thunderstorms of July 1985 and June 1986.

Donegal Storm · 11-02-2018 1:24am

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

Amazing that 1985 sticks in so many people's memories (it's what got me interested in meteorology) when it's such a common occurrence every year on the near continent (and even England many years). What's seldom is wonderful...

Definitely true, I spent two years living in the tropics recently and at first I was rushing to the window and getting my phone out to record every little thundery shower I'd see, I've always loved thunderstorms but towards the end it'd take constant flashes or bomb-like thunder for me to even take notice.

I actually prefer our style of climate in a round about way, I've lived in a few countries and Ireland is the only place I've ever kept a close eye on forecasts and gotten excited about potential events. When extremes are the norm weather watching becomes boring

Oneiric 3 · 13-02-2018 2:00am

Just to compliment GL's nice assessment of the July '85 storm, frontal maps from the UK Met office archives:

July 24th:

July 25th:

July 26th:

A really volatile set up.

Trebor176 · 26-07-2018 3:07pm

33 years yesterday!

https://www.joe.ie/news/think-bad-look-mega-thunderstorm-hit-ireland-1985-634497

Gonzo · 26-07-2018 3:14pm

Trebor176 wrote: »

33 years yesterday!

https://www.joe.ie/news/think-bad-look-mega-thunderstorm-hit-ireland-1985-634497

I was only 11 years old when that storm hit. Unfortunately it was the last proper storm I can ever remember in this country. Ever since then it's just been a few rumbles of thunder and a flash of lightning if I'm lucky.

The One Doctor · 27-07-2018 11:20pm

I vaguely remember the milkman collecting the weekly money with forked lightning in the background. I was terrified of lightning after that, right up until I lived in Brisbane for a few months in the summer of 2010. The Australian storms were awe inspiring, to say the least, especially with a 88m lightning conductor (Skyneedle) 200m away. Lost my terror of lightning after that, but maintain a very healthy respect for it now.

I remember a very impressive evening of lightning in Dublin 2000 and again in 2017.

Severe Thunderstorm July 25th/26th 1985

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