Shannon radar down again.

Discodog · 18-10-2019 12:26pm

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Imagine wasting your time doing that...

Shannon radar is a joke and always has been. Only in Ireland would such consistent shoddiness be tolerated.

It's better than doing nothing. Contacting ME is pointless, after all they already know how bad their radar is.

It's up to us to show how important the radar is & educate those that control the purse strings.

EDIT It's back

Comhrá · 18-10-2019 12:32pm

Back working since 11.30am

pauldry · 18-10-2019 1:01pm

sumtings wrote: »

I care, because it rains a lot I like to know when to expect breaks in the rain and make decisions accordingly. I use it an awful lot.

Do you see this post Met Eireann

An essential service (as well as a window)

In fairness im obsessed with it too. Shannon radar still down on my app so looking at sat24

Comhrá · 18-10-2019 1:27pm

Shannon radar still down on my app so looking at sat24

My app (Android) is showing as working ok (radar, that is).

ecowise · 21-10-2019 10:46am

Response from Met Office regarding recent outage:

"A critical power supply in the receiver failed on the 17th Oct., we tried to resolve the issue as quickly as possible .
We are sorry for any inconvenience caused."

No explanation or comment about the general unreliability of the Shannon radar.

21-10-2019 11:19am

The method to their madness: We're a captive audience.

SlowBlowin · 21-10-2019 11:51am

Strange that radar redundancy is deemed necessary for oil tankers, but not for the only system covering the SW.

ecowise · 25-10-2019 10:10am

Shannon on/off again this morning!

sumtings · 25-10-2019 10:22am

I think it doesn't work in the rain!

Joe Public · 25-10-2019 10:36am

www.raintoday.co.uk seem to be covering the south west ok so where are they getting their info from?

Comhrá · 25-10-2019 11:25am

Joe Public wrote: »

www.raintoday.co.uk seem to be covering the south west ok so where are they getting their info from?

The Shannon loss of coverage is in fact showing on www.raintoday.co.uk if you run the animation.

Storm 10 · 25-10-2019 11:35am

Always goes down when we need it most very strange

highdef · 25-10-2019 12:11pm

Storm 10 wrote: »

Always goes down when we need it most very strange

Maybe there's water doing something bad to the electrics so it only happens when it rains???? I'm joking but it wouldn't surprise me.

zell12 · 25-10-2019 12:22pm

Rainfall radar rings around Dublin Airport too
www.met.ie

SlowBlowin · 25-10-2019 12:30pm

zell12 wrote: »

Rainfall radar rings around Dublin Airport too
www.met.ie

They have been there on and off for a few months, I posted about it somewhere... It is bad the one of the most vulnerable areas of the country, weather wise, gets the worst radar coverage, I think I will have a word with my local Kerry TD.

Oscar Bravo · 25-10-2019 6:23pm

And again from Met Eireann

The Shannon Airport Rainfall Radar is currently offline due to a technical fault, hence a loss of radar coverage in the southwest of Ireland. Repairs are ongoing. We expect this radar will be operational again early next week.

JCX BXC · 25-10-2019 6:25pm

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

And again from Met Eireann

The Shannon Airport Rainfall Radar is currently offline due to a technical fault, hence a loss of radar coverage in the southwest of Ireland. Repairs are ongoing. We expect this radar will be operational again early next week.

Yeah, this time I'll bow and say it's getting excessive.

Gaoth Laidir · 25-10-2019 7:58pm

zell12 wrote: »

Rainfall radar rings around Dublin Airport too
www.met.ie

Radar rings like that are generally caused by melting snow. As a snowflake melts, liquid water on its surface, which is much larger than a raindrop's, causes a large return signal. The rings are causes by the scans at different angles in the vertical, and the effect is greatest closest to the radar tower.

irishgeo · 25-10-2019 9:26pm

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

And again from Met Eireann

The Shannon Airport Rainfall Radar is currently offline due to a technical fault, hence a loss of radar coverage in the southwest of Ireland. Repairs are ongoing. We expect this radar will be operational again early next week.

I would be asking questions about the parts being used or the company doing the repairs.

pauldry · 25-10-2019 10:06pm

Looks like the problem with the Shannon radar is rain. It works fine in dry weather.

ecowise · 26-10-2019 1:26am

Perhaps part of the reason for the Shannon radar neglect is because of its political overlords: Met Office Minister responsible Eoghan Murphy, TD, Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government

Seems like an odd Department, why not Communications, Climate Action & Environment or Transport, Tourism and Sport or Agriculture, Food and the Marine all of which would seem more appropriate.

Harry Palmr · 26-10-2019 10:07am

Surely the fly boys make use of this radar, if so spend the money and do it properly.

Jpmarn · 28-10-2019 10:11am

It seems that the Dublin Radar was down As well in recent days.

Jpmarn · 29-10-2019 9:27am

The Rainfall Radar page on Met.ie is gone dysfunctional in the last couple of days.

Comhrá · 29-10-2019 9:42am

Jpmarn wrote: »

The Rainfall Radar page on Met.ie is gone dysfunctional in the last couple of days.

I take it you haven't been following this thread closely then.

ecowise · 29-10-2019 10:37pm

Shannon came back at 19.10h.

ecowise · 29-10-2019 11:44pm

I am not sure but it may be that the coverage map only for Shannon is showing. There are no rain echos but it looks like there should be something in the south/south west. The British Met Office radar is still showing Shannon as missing.

sumtings · 29-10-2019 11:53pm

ecowise wrote: »

I am not sure but it may be that the coverage map only for Shannon is showing. There are no rain echos but it looks like there should be something in the south/south west. The British Met Office radar is still showing Shannon as missing.

I can see a radar anomaly to the southeast, the radar also seems to be coming and going and the infrared doesn't show any rain about so good chance it is back in some type of manner

ecowise · 30-10-2019 12:16am

sumtings wrote: »

I can see a radar anomaly to the southeast, the radar also seems to be coming and going and the infrared doesn't show any rain about so good chance it is back in some type of manner

I think the echo in the second image could be from the UK but the latest Irish Met echo does show something further west (offshore west Cork) so it is presumably working now. Still, not a satisfactory service.

SlowBlowin · 30-10-2019 12:50am

Gone again 23:50

ecowise · 30-10-2019 1:24am

Perhaps its time to go solid state - no tubes to fail and built in component redundancy!

mickger844posts · 30-10-2019 11:13am

Still down this morning. Totally unreliable and needs replacing asap.

Joe Public · 30-10-2019 12:37pm

Sign of bad weather coming

Oscar Bravo · 30-10-2019 1:20pm

1219 update

The Radar is still under service as of 30th October with no current date for resumption of service.

Joe Public · 30-10-2019 1:33pm

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

1219 update

The Radar is still under service as of 30th October with no current date for resumption of service.

What year?

Oneiric 3 · 30-10-2019 1:50pm

The Shannon radar can go to hell for all I care, it was just as useless for my region when 'operating' as when it is not. Showing rain when there isn't any, and none, or the lightest blue, when rivers are running down streets.

As an aside. I just recently purchased a manual rain gauge similar to this one from 'CLIMET':

RG.jpg?height=319&width=320

Pretty cheap and pretty flimsy, but apparently quite accurate and plan on setting it up at the start of next year. Although I have a Davis weather station, I have come not to trust the rain readings as they always under record. Always suspected this by comparing measurements in a humble mug place near it (always by between about 10% to 20%) but confirmed by the recent introduction of a nearby Met Eireann station located about 2 miles away. So from next year on, any rain totals I will be reporting on here will be from this new, simple gauge rather than from the overly expensive Davis one.

ecowise · 30-10-2019 3:53pm

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Although I have a Davis weather station, I have come not to trust the rain readings as they always under record. Always suspected this by comparing measurements in a humble mug place near it (always by between about 10% to 20%) but confirmed by the recent introduction of a nearby Met Eireann station located about 2 miles away. So from next year on, any rain totals I will be reporting on here will be from this new, simple gauge rather than from the overly expensive Davis one.

Good idea. I keep a manual gauge also and use it to calibrate my Davis WS.

30-10-2019 6:38pm

Update: 30th October 2019

The Shannon Airport Rainfall Radar remains under service. There may be intermittent coverage available while certain units of the radar are under test, please note they may not be an accurate radar image. Repairs are ongoing but we have no current date for resumption of Radar service.

https://www.met.ie/shannon-airport-rainfall-radar

Rikand · 31-10-2019 2:17pm

We must be the laughing stock of Europe with our antiquated setup

2 new radars needed at least and stick em on valentia island/sherkin island and belmullet

And if they have to be at airports, then Kerry/cork airport and knock. At least it will give us more coverage from where most of our weather comes from.

How much would one of those weather radars cost ? Several million each I presume considering how few we have ?

ronnie3585 · 31-10-2019 2:30pm

Rikand wrote: »

We must be the laughing stock of Europe with our antiquated setup

Is the service that much better in Europe?

I travel quite a bit and I always look for the in-country rain radar whenever I'm abroad. My experience in Europe is that the majority of rain radars I've found have been absolutely crap, with most having a 16 bit-esque interface/15 minute updates.

Leaving aside the reliability issue, which is terrible, I find ME's interface and 5 minute updates very good (Netweather's even better).

ecowise · 31-10-2019 6:32pm

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Is the service that much better in Europe?

I travel quite a bit and I always look for the in-country rain radar whenever I'm abroad. My experience in Europe is that the majority of rain radars I've found have been absolutely crap, with most having a 16 bit-esque interface/15 minute updates.

Leaving aside the reliability issue, which is terrible, I find ME's interface and 5 minute updates very good (Netweather's even better).

Please don't conflate the quality of the interface with whether the radar is working or not. In terms of the update interval this should be user selectable as different users have different needs. Generally with Irish type weather I prefer longer intervals, such as 15 min, but when there are rapidly evolving conditions such as continental thunderstorms 5 min interval might be more appropriate. But either way you have to have a working radar in the first place and in that regard Shannon is not up to scratch.

foxy farmer · 31-10-2019 6:38pm

Looks like the Dublin radar is out too. Netweather shows returns from Belfast and UK only with last 2 hrs.

Bsal · 31-10-2019 7:07pm

From my recent observations it seems that netweather doesn't use Dublin's radar data, everytime Shannon goes down you can see the loss of coverage on netweather's network in the SW of Ireland because no Dublin data is displayed. They must think the coverage overlap between Shannon, Belfast and the radar on the west coast of Wales is enough.

Bsal · 31-10-2019 7:17pm

It appears the UK met office doesn't use Dublin's radar either, it's been annoying me for a while but since Shannon is broken so often now the lack of Dublin really shows

Mortelaro · 31-10-2019 7:24pm

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

The Shannon radar can go to hell for all I care, it was just as useless for my region when 'operating' as when it is not. Showing rain when there isn't any, and none, or the lightest blue, when rivers are running down streets.

As an aside. I just recently purchased a manual rain gauge similar to this one from 'CLIMET':

Pretty cheap and pretty flimsy, but apparently quite accurate and plan on setting it up at the start of next year. Although I have a Davis weather station, I have come not to trust the rain readings as they always under record. Always suspected this by comparing measurements in a humble mug place near it (always by between about 10% to 20%) but confirmed by the recent introduction of a nearby Met Eireann station located about 2 miles away. So from next year on, any rain totals I will be reporting on here will be from this new, simple gauge rather than from the overly expensive Davis one.

2 miles Oneiric can have big variations though
I've an old met Éireann gauge alongside my Davis and readings are pretty much the same
I understand Danno also has this down in Durrow so should be able to concur or not

ecowise · 01-11-2019 7:41pm

Mortelaro wrote: »

2 miles Oneiric can have big variations though
I've an old met Éireann gauge alongside my Davis and readings are pretty much the same
I understand Danno also has this down in Durrow so should be able to concur or not

My data in mm for Davis VP2 and TFA manual rain gauge in west Waterford:

VP2--- Rain gauge
2017 1015.7 1043.1
2018 1112.3 1128.9

Collectors are about 40 m apart and I re calibrate the VP2 during the year if I notice a significant difference in any period.

Discodog · 01-11-2019 7:59pm

I am going to write to the Minister & some of the West's TDs. It might not make a difference but it can't do any harm.

sumtings · 01-11-2019 8:08pm

Discodog wrote: »

I am going to write to the Minister & some of the West's TDs. It might not make a difference but it can't do any harm.

Think I will myself, wonder how farmers would feel if it was silage time.

Discodog · 01-11-2019 8:10pm

sumtings wrote: »

Think I will myself, wonder how farmers would feel if it was silage time.

It makes me wonder how many people use the radar. I do several times a day & it's essential for my business.

Danno · 01-11-2019 8:12pm

Mortelaro wrote: »

2 miles Oneiric can have big variations though
I've an old met Éireann gauge alongside my Davis and readings are pretty much the same
I understand Danno also has this down in Durrow so should be able to concur or not

Which type of tipper is in the bucket Oneiric?

Is it A - classic:

davis-vantage-pro-pro2-rain-tipping-bucket-7342-038

or is it B - single spoon:

Secondly, is the gauge up in the air around 4ft off the ground or is it separated from the integrated suite and at it's own height above grass level?

I recently replaced tipper A with B and the accuracy is very good. Beforehand using A there were wild swings of 10%-20% One day under recording, others - over recording.

With the new tipper it has been much less variable and in fact recently it has been fairly bang on with totals between 3mm and 10mm

Keep in mind that my gauge is at ground level pretty much beside the manual Met Eireann gauge.

I have heard that people using the plastic ones above that you've shown are quite good - do you have a link to where one could be purchased, might try one if the price is right and compare it to the Met Eireann manual gauge.

Shannon radar down again.

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