Winter 2019/2020 - General Discussion

Donegal Storm · 02-01-2020 9:04pm

Gonzo wrote: »

I'd agree with most of the above except for the no heavy rain events. We had some exceptionally wet rain events especially late September and October, several in November and a few in early December.

Everything else is spot on tho. We failed to get a winter in January and February 2019. The Spring was mostly cold and quite wet at times. Plenty of Cold rain and raw wind. Heating was on full time throughout the Spring and into early Summer, except for a few warm days around Easter.

Summer was disappointing, considering how good everywhere else got it including mainland UK. June was very cold right up to the third week, it felt more like mid March with temperatures struggling to get past 10C on several days with heavy rain and cold showers.

July was the only half decent month of the entire year imo with a good deal of dry and sunny weather but temperatures never really got above 23C in many places.

August was very wet for Ireland while the rest of Europe including many parts of mainland UK had a fairly hot and mostly dry month. Little did we know the deluges in August was a sign of things to come for the rest of the year.

First half of September was decent, it was fairly dry and mild with a few warm days. From September 20th to first half of December was incredibly wet. Day after day of downpours, rain events, heavy showers and more rain. December finished dryer into the second half but exceptionally mild and bland.

2019 is without a doubt my least favourite year for weather that I can remember with nothing remotely interesting happening all year. We failed to get a winter in 2019, Spring was more like winter and summer was on the poor side of average. Autumn was a horrible deluge and Winter so far has been featureless and mostly mild.

January looks like carrying over what we had in 2019. Let's hope 2020 will provide us with something a bit more interesting and more seasonal than 2019. It wouldn't take much to improve on 2019. Perhaps a cold week in February, some snow in March and a few weeks of warm to hot conditions in the summer would do nicely. Hopefully June will feel more like early summer this year. I do not want to see a repeat of Autumn 2019 for a long time to come!

By heavy rain I meant more monsoon-like convective downpours that are interesting to watch and observe, not the miserable 12 hours of the same 5mm/hr rain we get countless times throughout the year. Though maybe there were more downpours in your part of the country, around here we had nothing but light rain and drizzle all year

Also July was horrible here, cool and overcast all month. The only slight saving graces were the February 'heatwave' and the first week of September. The rest was just utterly bland grey nothingness

smokie72 · 02-01-2020 9:41pm

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50971446

Record breaking warm weather in Norway.

esposito · 02-01-2020 10:47pm

smokie72 wrote: »

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50971446

Record breaking warm weather in Norway.

19C in western Norway in January. This “winter” is beyond a joke.

nacho libre · 02-01-2020 10:51pm

Gonzo wrote: »

Summer was disappointing, considering how good everywhere else got it including mainland UK. June was very cold right up to the third week, it felt more like mid March with temperatures struggling to get past 10C on several days with heavy rain and cold showers.

The month of June was not that great, in parts of the uk, if you liked sun and warmth.
June was unusually wet, and quite cool at times in the South East of England. In fact it was probably the wettest June I experienced in my time over there. The Summer overall was a poor one.

Cork Boy 53 · 03-01-2020 12:44pm

First real decent sunshine here today since Christmas Eve. I suppose we should make the most of it since we will be back to the cloudy wet conditions by Sunday.

Logan Roy · 03-01-2020 1:04pm

Phenomenal day in Cork

can't beat a crisp sunny winters day.

Gonzo · 03-01-2020 1:34pm

sunny here in Meath too, one of the few sunny days we've had since September.

Logan Roy · 03-01-2020 2:29pm

Gonzo wrote: »

sunny here in Meath too, one of the few sunny days we've had since September.

Is there really a need to caveat it? Just enjoy it man:pac:

Gonzo · 03-01-2020 3:48pm

Logan Roy wrote: »

Is there really a need to caveat it? Just enjoy it man:pac:

been enjoying it already, went for a 2 hour walk, lovely day for it.

We could have more sunny days especially in the second half of this month with high pressure likely at some point.

Goldfinch8 · 03-01-2020 4:14pm

A cracking morning earlier today in Mayo so I hit Nephin for a climb. A small bit of cloud right at the summit. A cool brisk breeze but a great day for the hills.
A little more cloud about this afternoon with the odd light shower appearing.
Below a pic from the slopes looking out towards the wilds of North Mayo.

compsys · 03-01-2020 5:22pm

Gonzo wrote: »

sunny here in Meath too, one of the few sunny days we've had since September.

Since September? Ah come on, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

Sryanbruen will have all the details but in Dublin we've had more than a handful of dry, sunny days in four months!

m17 · 03-01-2020 5:31pm

Birdhill co tipperary 03/01/20 16.27 temperature 7°C

km79 · 03-01-2020 9:42pm

https://www.thejournal.ie/met-eireann-weather-temperatures-climate-4953261-Jan2020/?utm_source=shortlink&fbclid=IwAR1kNA7dgUeDtG3BxMnqIKVzsO3OC6jhfFBpBhK6ZpwO-9-ViDhBOb3K6cs

120% of rainfall average for athenry last year

Snow Garden · 03-01-2020 9:47pm

km79 wrote: »

https://www.thejournal.ie/met-eireann-weather-temperatures-climate-4953261-Jan2020/?utm_source=shortlink&fbclid=IwAR1kNA7dgUeDtG3BxMnqIKVzsO3OC6jhfFBpBhK6ZpwO-9-ViDhBOb3K6cs

120% of rainfall average for athenry last year

Yeah I remember the Athenry rainfall in August was off the charts. It was nuts. Here are the numbers for the past 3 years at Athenry.

2019 = 297.3mm
2018 = 126.1mm
2017 = 103.1mm
Mean = 107.8mm

That horribly wet August contributed massively.

sryanbruen · 03-01-2020 10:52pm

Repeating what others have said but what a beautiful day that was in Dublin. Best day of 2020 so far

Went on at least three walks to make the most of it, one of which was at Killiney which the pic was at.

Goldfinch8 · 03-01-2020 11:52pm

A calm lough Beltra and a sunlit Bireen Corragh in Co Mayo before ascending Nephin mountain this morning.

Xenji · 04-01-2020 2:51am

km79 wrote: »

https://www.thejournal.ie/met-eireann-weather-temperatures-climate-4953261-Jan2020/?utm_source=shortlink&fbclid=IwAR1kNA7dgUeDtG3BxMnqIKVzsO3OC6jhfFBpBhK6ZpwO-9-ViDhBOb3K6cs

120% of rainfall average for athenry last year

A bit misleading saying it was the wettest place in Ireland, as the main stations go Newport was just shy of 1800mm and Valentia was over 1700mm, Athenry was only 1426mm.

It should get the most improved rainfall amount award though

US2 · 04-01-2020 5:25pm

Not weather related but I've been trying to get a glimpse of these for a while, they looked amazing on YouTube passing over the Netherlands

Dozens of Starlink satellites will cross the sky chasing each other tonight (Jan.4th) TWICE: first from 5:29pm to 5:39pm rising in the West and going nearly overhead from Ireland, and again from 7:04pm to 7:13pm low in the W to SW.

US2 · 04-01-2020 6:33pm

Too cloudy again. Pity.

sryanbruen · 04-01-2020 8:20pm

I know I'm late with responding to the below comments especially the first, apologies.

US2 wrote: »

Not the thread for this general debate but I'm fairly confident we get hot summers after cold winter/spring , definitely in my lifetime. 2010/2013/2018.

No doubt sryan will prove me wrong

I had to laugh at that last line. Is me being pedantic or a weather history person become a culture or something on here?

I always see the spring (especially April) link with summer mentioned which has been debunked time and time again by past examples. Yes, we've had recent examples of poor summers coinciding with a precedent warm, dry and or sunny April like 2007, 2011 and 2015. However, we have had such Aprils followed by warm, dry and sunny summers before with 1984 being a big one. 2014 was also kind of one but April was wet in the south and August deteriorated a lot from what June and July brought to the table particularly in the east.

Cold springs, warm summers --> 2013, 1996, 1983, 1975, 1955
Cold/cool springs, cool/wet summers --> 2015, 1986, 1979, 1912
Warm springs, cool/wet summers --> 2017, 2011, 2007, 1993
Warm springs, warm summers --> 2014, 2003, 1959

That is not a complete list, those are just some examples off the top of my head and some are not included like 1984 because the spring wasn't particularly warm overall - although April 1984 was very dry, warm and sunny as mentioned.

compsys wrote: »

Since September? Ah come on, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

Sryanbruen will have all the details but in Dublin we've had more than a handful of dry, sunny days in four months!

I cannot vouch for Gonzo's location in Dunshaughlin and part of this is because of the uneven distribution of sunshine. However, for Dublin, you took the words right out of my mouth.

October had a good few pleasant sunny days and these included the 2nd, 6th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 16th, 26th and 27th - all of these had at least 6 hrs of sun at Dublin Airport which I regard as "good" for an October day although 20th, 21st and 24th were also nice in my opinion. The 24th had heavy showers during the evening however. It wasn't as sunny as October 2018 but still sunnier than average.

November was atrocious though for sunshine in Dublin and it had the lowest November total I have actually experienced with a terrible 41 hrs and I think this made it the dullest November since 1983. Only 8th and 18th were notably sunny with more than 6 hrs.

December had its fair share of sunny days (by December standards) and was a major improvement on the record dull December of 2018. 3rd, 9th, 11th and 16th all lovely sunny days with 14th, 20th, 23rd and Christmas Day not terrible either. The takeaway from December though for me was its sunrises and sunsets especially early in the month.

I have pics for a lot of these days.

Naggdefy · 04-01-2020 9:29pm

I don't recall such a poor outlook for cold/snow at the beginning of January. A strong polar vortex, no SSW imminent, positive NAO etc. Everything seems to be against us getting wintry weather from 14 January to 21 February, the core of winter.

I know March and April may deliver. But it's not the same. Even the easterly and Emma, though brilliant and wintry, was just a few weeks too late for me. It would have been epic, lower temps, lasted longer a month earlier.

Is there any hope for this winter? Is it possible something can change the weather pattern and the end of tomorrow's ECM and GFS could show Greenland blocking or a Scandi high developing? Or do we know too much now and have all bases covered regarding possibilities of the weather turning colder?

esposito · 04-01-2020 10:07pm

Naggdefy wrote: »

I don't recall such a poor outlook for cold/snow at the beginning of January. A strong polar vortex, no SSW imminent, positive NAO etc. Everything seems to be against us getting wintry weather from 14 January to 21 February, the core of winter.

I know March and April may deliver. But it's not the same. Even the easterly and Emma, though brilliant and wintry, was just a few weeks too late for me. It would have been epic, lower temps, lasted longer a month earlier.

Is there any hope for this winter? Is it possible something can change the weather pattern and the end of tomorrow's ECM and GFS could show Greenland blocking or a Scandi high developing? Or do we know too much now and have all bases covered regarding possibilities of the weather turning colder?

I agree with all of the above you said.
It’s very frustrating isn’t it. There will be a pattern change, just a question of when. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like happening anytime soon - could be Spring, might be a bit earlier, who knows. I think it’s safe to write off the whole month of January anyway. I don’t think anyone can say with a high degree of certainty what it will be like in February. Who knows, we might start to see interesting FI charts in the next few weeks and then the rollercoaster might begin to accelerate once again

pad199207 · 04-01-2020 10:21pm

Naggdefy wrote: »

I don't recall such a poor outlook for cold/snow at the beginning of January. A strong polar vortex, no SSW imminent, positive NAO etc. Everything seems to be against us getting wintry weather from 14 January to 21 February, the core of winter.

I know March and April may deliver. But it's not the same. Even the easterly and Emma, though brilliant and wintry, was just a few weeks too late for me. It would have been epic, lower temps, lasted longer a month earlier.

Is there any hope for this winter? Is it possible something can change the weather pattern and the end of tomorrow's ECM and GFS could show Greenland blocking or a Scandi high developing? Or do we know too much now and have all bases covered regarding possibilities of the weather turning colder?

Oh a change will definitely happen. Come May we will get the pattern that we want now and will last the whole summer.

Naggdefy · 04-01-2020 10:26pm

pad199207 wrote: »

Oh a change will definitely happen. Come May we will get the pattern that we want now and will last the whole summer.

That's what I fear just seeing if there's any hope for a quick change in meteorological winter.

Monkeynut · 04-01-2020 10:30pm

Can anyone explain what this is.
I'm beside the pavillions in swords. Is it the northern lights, the airport, jam park?
https://i.imgur.com/hVbvov7.mp4

pad199207 · 04-01-2020 10:36pm

Monkeynut wrote: »

Can anyone explain what this is.
I'm beside the pavillions in Swords. Is it the northern lights, the airport, jam park?
https://imgur.com/a/XyQHZR8

A rave

Gonzo · 04-01-2020 11:21pm

Naggdefy wrote: »

I don't recall such a poor outlook for cold/snow at the beginning of January. A strong polar vortex, no SSW imminent, positive NAO etc. Everything seems to be against us getting wintry weather from 14 January to 21 February, the core of winter.

I know March and April may deliver. But it's not the same. Even the easterly and Emma, though brilliant and wintry, was just a few weeks too late for me. It would have been epic, lower temps, lasted longer a month earlier.

Is there any hope for this winter? Is it possible something can change the weather pattern and the end of tomorrow's ECM and GFS could show Greenland blocking or a Scandi high developing? Or do we know too much now and have all bases covered regarding possibilities of the weather turning colder?

I totally agree with the above. Last winter was a real heartbreaker, we had so much promise from the long range models, yet nothing materialised in the short to medium term all through last winter, we didn't have a winter last year untill Spring and by then it was too late.

I didn't think last winter could be beaten for bland and mild but this winter so far takes the biscuit, we couldn't be in a worse situation than we are right now for cold and snow.

Looking at the charts there is little to no hope any time over the next 3 weeks. However, there is still a bit of hope for February, more than likely the westerlies will continue but if we got height rises to our south, and they make their way to Scandinavia, then we might draw in some colder weather in February. That is a very long shot, but the hope is still there.

At this stage i'd except some brief wintry spell of wet wintry slop in March if nothing else happens. What worries me is this mild pattern could go on for 2 months more and then the nothern blocking and cold rain could kick in April or early May just like last spring/summer, I really hope this doesn't happen.

fryup · 04-01-2020 11:38pm

we don't get any severe frosts anymore do we?

Monkeynut · 04-01-2020 11:41pm

fryup wrote: »

we don't get any severe frosts anymore do we?

When the weather is right we do, we just haven't had too many hard ones in the last while.

Be sure we will get some in the future. Its not the end of them. lol

Gonzo · 04-01-2020 11:45pm

fryup wrote: »

we don't get any severe frosts anymore do we?

we do some years, last winter didn't happen, it was an incredibly mild winter and if this winter continues in it's current form we could break last winter's records. Unless there is change these are 2 exceptionally mild winters back to back. If February or even March fails to deliver this year, then next winter is most likley to be somewhat more seasonal, it would be bizarre to get 3 record breaking warm winters in a row.

Winter 2019/2020 - General Discussion

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