Strong Winds/Severe Gusts January 14/15th 2015

Great minds eh!

It is a strange thing when people appear disappointed/disgruntled that the storm didn't live up to their expectations of a Red Warning even though is did eventually prove to be a level 3 storm albeit not as wide spread as last year's Feb storm. And it's sad that they then vent their anger at the individuals who, in good faith, made their findings known and accuse them of "hyping" things up when that couldn't be further from the truth.

A newspaper headline using the word BOMB is hype. Pages upon pages of data and information over a number of days on boards certainly does not equate to hype.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't I guess. On-wards to the next system and I hope all you avid weather followers continue to keep us novices so well informed.

Mech1 wrote: »

Nothing orange level for the passengers and crew Holding, Missed approaches, Diversions etc today at Dublin airport. Red warning well in order.

Look at the dublin airport winds and you will find an orange level wind.
Whether planes can land or not does not dictate wind warnings.

I see alot of jokes about this storm on Facebook and alot giving out about the cancellation of schools (also alot praising this :P).

My fear is that people will not trust red warnings in the future and will end up putting themselves at risk.

Pretzill wrote: »

It's not 'the boy who cried wolf' it's a red warning and it's weather I'd trust those in the know to advise - most certainly would not take unnecessary journeys - baton down the hatches and be only too delighted it passed over without causing damage - why would anyone be disenfranchised by being too warned?

I have no doubt Red Warnings can save a life/lives and alert the masses more than weather jargon used to, for the populous. Also I know if I was a school going child now I'd be rubbing my hands at the thought of closures!

A lot of people are annoyed with having to miss work or orginise babysitters for their children while off school. Of course if your in school its great .

My point is their has been a lot of Facebook and even news reports saying how much Met Eireann overreacted, IMO they gave what they could with the info they had, but not many people are as educated in the weather as people on here. People may have less faith in the warnings and therefore not act with as many precautions when a red warning is seen.

Parts of cork and Kerry got bad weather and Dublin Airport was certainly hit with a strong crosswind, but that's not as widespread as predicated. Here in west Clare the storm peaked at around 7pm, with winds slightly abating after that before levelling for a few hours at a maybe gale force, but certainly nothing more. Nothing shook, the lights didn't flick, very little wind noise which is quite the contrary to the storm last February.

Met Eireann does issue warnings for a reason and a lot of people respect these warnings, but there still people who don't and this will increase with this slight disappointment of a storm. All it takes is for a few eejits to decide to drive along a cliff, have a Sunday drive through a forest, or even leave out garden furniture for accidents to happen, and the more eejits there is, the more accidents and eventually fatalities you will see.

AnotherYear wrote: »

A hurricane is an area of low pressure over tropical or sub-tropical waters, with organised convection and winds at low levels of at least 74 m.p.h. Hurricane Season runs from June 1 to November 30.

I know this. I already explained it in a previous comment on this thread. You should be explaining that to the posters whom cannot distinguish the difference between a European windstorm and a tropical storm.

AnotherYear wrote: »

A hurricane can on rare occasions maintain Hurricane status as it reaches Ireland as Oneiric shows. Map below tracks of all known Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1851 to 2012

Hurricane Debbie may have reached sustained winds of 74mph at Malin Head, but whether it maintained its tropical storm status is up for debate, but it certainly was not a hurricane by the time it reached Ireland. Your map includes extratropical storms, not just tropical storms - they are related but they're not the same thing.

There's more to a tropical storm than just sustained winds and being a low pressure system. They're actually clusters of rotating thunderstorms that suck up energy from seas surface temperatures of 26.5*C and produce heavy rain. Oh and because they're composed of thunderstorms, the cloudtops are a brilliant white. Most of them have an eye in the center, where the weather is very calm.

AnotherYear wrote: »

European wind storms can often reach hurricane status wind speed wise but aren't classified as such as they don't form over warm waters which Hurricanes do. Globally storms of this type forming between 30° and 60° latitude are known as extratropical cyclones

Congratulations. You know how to copy and paste stuff. I already know this.

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Blanket red for limerick in effect for all of limerick from 9pm. After the peak.

Previous, sensible warning was red for exposed or coastal areas. Orange otherwise.

Just in case you were confused or making things up.

What? "Making things up" ? Making what up exactly?

This is what I said

gozunda wrote:

The incident happened in Anglesborough
on the Cork / Limerick border and near the Galty mountains. The thing about county Limerick is that it stretches all the way from sea level to an elevation of over 3000 feet. Part of the Red Warning issued for Limerick by ME related to exposed and mountainous areas Those regions are likely to be severely affected during severe storms more so than low lying areas.

These were the warnings
Status Red warning issued by ME at 14:00

MetEireann wrote:

National Weather Warnings

STATUS RED
Wind Warning for Exposed coastal and mountain areas of Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick and Kerry.
Wind gusts 130 to 150km/h possible.

High onshore seas also

Issued:Wednesday 14 January 2015 14:00
Valid:Wednesday 14 January 2015 21:00 to Thursday 15 January 2015 12:00

Status Red issued at 20:00

MetEireann wrote:

2000 update
National Weather Warnings

STATUS RED

Wind Warning for Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick

Mean speeds in excess of 80 km/h with gusts of 130 to 150km/h possible. The strongest winds will be along exposed coasts and mountainous areas.
Issued:
Wednesday 14 January 2015 20:00
Valid:
Wednesday 14 January 2015 20:00 to Thursday 15 January 2015 14:00

Do explain your reasoning if any ....

Special Circumstances wrote: »

The 2pm warning was relatively apt. The 8pm warning was not.
Justifying an upgrade to blanket red for limerick by emphasising the parts that refer to specific locations is just illogical?

That is your opinion on the ME Status Red warnings and has nothing to do with my post.

I stated it how it was in the context of a tree falling on an individual in a mountainous area of Co Limerick. There was no making it up or confusion as you put it. I suggest you take up any issues you may have with ME.