Irish Weather Thread

[Catmalojin]

Surprised we don't have a thread on what is one of the Irish peoples' most beloved conversation starters - the weather!

Today was a fantastic day here in Dublin - it was the same across the island except for those in the very far south, around Cork. It hit 25.5ºC at Phoenix Park this afternoon - the hottest temperature recorded this year!

Hottest day of the year in Dublin

CÍAN NIHILL

Wed, Sep 28, 2011



Today was Dublin's hottest day of the year, with temperatures in Phoenix Park reaching 25.5 degrees in the early afternoon according to Met Éireann.

The reading surpasses the warmest temperature officially recorded anywhere in the country by the national forecaster so far in 2011 with the previous high mark being 25.4 degrees in Oak Park in Carlow on June 3rd.

While warm temperatures are not uncommon during September, they usually occur early in the month. Today's temperatures were the highest ever recorded so late in the month with most of the country over 20 degrees.

However, the sunshine did not extend to every part of Ireland with areas in the south and southwest in particular experiencing overcast conditions and temperatures of around 14 degrees.

Mark Dunphy, editor of irishweatheronline.com, explained that the divided fortune in weather for the different parts of the country was based on a rain front coming in from the Atlantic Ocean clashing with a high pressure system travelling north from continental Europe.

"Along the east coast it was about eight to ten degrees warmer than the average for September but along the south and southwest coast it was a completely different day" he said.

He added that the sunny weather would not last long and that talks of a heat wave were premature.

"On Friday places like Kerry, Cork, Limerick, Clare, will have up to an inch and a half of rain and the Atlantic system (bringing rain) will move further east."

Met Éireann said that temperatures were reaching their peak today and that while areas in east Ulster and Leinster can expect a few more days of dry weather in the 20s, that more places would see rain from tomorrow onwards.

© 2011 irishtimes.com

[nordisk celt83]

It says a lot about how bad our summers have been when our highest temperatures are recorded in Autumn and Spring.

In the past, there was typically at least one warm spell in summer that would result in temps reaching close to 30 or just above 30!!!

[Catmalojin]

Originally Posted by nordisk celt83

It says a lot about how bad our summers have been when our highest temperatures are recorded in Autumn and Spring.

In the past, there was typically at least one warm spell in summer that would result in temps reaching close to 30 or just above 30!!!

It's been a recurring theme the past few years, spring and autumn (September, specifically) have been far better than the traditional summer months. The last good summer I remember is 2006, mainly around June and July - it hit 32.2ºC then, if I remember correctly.

Originally Posted by nordisk celt83

I complained a lot about the weather today; too hot in work. (28 on the thermometer outside)

There's always something to complain about!!!

Makes me glad that I'm a student.

[nordisk celt83]

I complained a lot about the weather today; too hot in work. (28 on the thermometer outside)

There's always something to complain about!!!

[Never give up]

If we don´t the issue of climate change seriously then this will be the kind of weather we will be looking at on this thread.

[IMG]http://i56.************/2akgsqf.jpg[/IMG]

[belfastuniguy]

Originally Posted by Never give up

If we don´t the issue of climate change seriously then this will be the kind of weather we will be looking at on this thread.

That's a bit dramatic. Rising sea levels aren't a pressing issues for the island of Ireland as the landmass has been slowly rising after the effects of glacial compression.

However other issues such as colder and harsher winters are a concern. People forget that global warming doesn't mean we all get warmed.

[Catmalojin]

Just to correct the figure above, 25.6ºC was recorded in Phoenix Park yesterday. I'm pedantic about that sort of stuff, so just wanted the correct figure on the record.

[Catmalojin]

Autumn is definitely with us!

Rain causes floods and O2 mobile disruption
Updated: 19:16, Saturday, 1 October 2011

Mobile network O2 has confirmed that heavy rain in the Dublin and Wicklow regions this morning has caused disruption to mobile services.

O2 says many customers are experiencing "patchy service" and in some cases no service at all.

The company says its technicians are working to restore services as soon as possible.

It says there have been "coverage issues" reported in Carlow, Clare, Cork, Dublin, Kerry and Wicklow.

Heavy downpours also resulted in spot flooding on roads around the capital city, but most roads remain passable.

There are no reports of significant disruption outside Dublin.

Iarnród Éireann says it is keeping an eye on the east coast high tide in case it causes further flooding.

DART services have now resumed after being suspended for a time earlier due to flooding south of Dún Laoghaire.

Met Éireann has forecast further spells of heavy and persistent rain in eastern and southern parts this evening, with a continuing risk of localised flooding.

The rain will become more widespread overnight.

Story from RTÉ News:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1001/dublin_weather.html

[odlum833]

Wonder will we get as much snow and ice this year as last year.

[thebig C]

I don't know about you guys but I think the past week and a half has been freezing! Real penitrating cold!

[Catmalojin]

Originally Posted by thebig C

I don't know about you guys but I think the past week and a half has been freezing! Real penitrating cold!

Definitely! Though I think it probably feels even colder because we got such a mild October and a very mild November. Compared to this time last year it's positively balmy!

Met Éireann issued this Weather Advisory today:

Issued at 11 December 2011 - 12:01
Weather Advisory

The weather in the coming week will be very windy for a lot of the time with some stormy episodes expected. At the moment, later Tuesday or Wednesday and Thursday night/Friday look to be especially at risk.

Some falls of sleet or snow will occur at times also especially in the North and West.

There is also the risk of some flooding especially along the Atlantic sea board where there will be very high seas and swell coinciding with high tides.

Could be an interesting week ahead!

[Rapter]

Its pity, I was expecting some snow and ice by this time, since a lot of people were saying, that this winter will be colder than the previous one, thought I will finally test out my car on the empty car park when there will be some ice, looks like that will have to wait for next winter

[thebig C]

Hey Catmalojin

True, we have been very lucky until now!! Everybody was predicting mayhem.....I lost count of the number of people who told me (from aparently cast iron sources) that October was going to be snowbound! I'm best man at a Wedding on Thursday, so hoping any bad weather holds off.

Rapter we still have January to get through. When I was a kid that is when most of the snow fell.....so don't lose hope, you may still be able to do donuts Anyway you should be used to the cold being Lithuanian......unless Ireland has softened you up)

[Catmalojin]

From Met Éireann:

Record wave recorded off Ireland
13 December 2011

At 14.00 today (Tuesday 13th December 2011), the M4 weather buoy off the Donegal coast recorded a maximum wave height of 20.4 metres which is the highest maximum wave recorded in Irish waters.

Had a few snow flurries today in Dublin, but none of it accumulated. Very, very windy though!

Today's weather warning:

Issued at 13 December 2011 - 04:18
Severe Weather Alert

Very windy or stormy today with winds gusting 100 to 140 km/h, strongest along the North coast. Squally showers or thunderstorms will give some wintry falls of sleet and snow especially on hills but at some low levels also. The showers will be most frequent in the North and West with blizzard like conditions on some of the hills.

[Catmalojin]

Freezing winter conditions expected to continue through the weekend

LUKE CASSIDY

Thu, Dec 15, 2011


Greyhound-owners "walk" their dog from their car in snowy conditions in the Dublin mountains. Photograph: Dave Meehan

THE CURRENT cold spell, with daytime highs in single digits and sub-zero temperatures at night, is expected to last through the weekend, according to Met Éireann.

Further wintry showers will affect the north and west of the country today but the strong winds experienced over the past few days will slacken.

Outbreaks of rain or sleet are also likely to affect southern coastal counties by afternoon but the rest of the country should remain dry with daytime temperatures of 4 to 7 degrees.

It will be very cold overnight with temperatures dropping to -3 degrees. Rain moving in from the west will spread to other areas tomorrow, with some of the showers turning to sleet and snow and highest temperatures of 3 to 6 degrees.

The outlook for the weekend is similar with chilly northerly winds persisting and temperatures expected to fall as low as -4 degrees on Saturday night, bringing a widespread severe frost and icy patches.

Motorists are warned overnight frost has led to icy stretches on some roads this morning, making driving conditions hazardous.

Noel Brett of the Road Safety Authority has urged drivers to be cautions and to consider postponing journeys unless necessary.

He said road users needed to pay attention to “local weather and traffic reports, be extremely careful and heed any Garda messages in relation to travel”.

Mr Brett added: “We need to be prepared for these severe weather conditions of stormy winds, patches of ice and snow showers.”

He warned commuters to be vigilant for black ice, particularly in sheltered areas.

Meanwhile, Eircom says it is continuing to deal with a high number of faults on its network due to the recent stormy weather.

The company says it is dealing with more than 5,000 reported faults nationally, with the worst-affected areas along the west coast and parts of the northeast.

Eircom said its crews were working as “quickly as possible” to restore service to customers and will work through the weekend if needed.

In Co Kerry, a lightning strike yesterday left more than 1,000 homes and businesses without power. An ESB spokeswoman said repair crews had restored electricity to most of the premises around Kenmare and Cahirciveen. Last night, about 200 houses remained without power.

She added that the recent bad weather had not adversely affected the network.

© 2011 The Irish Times

...

[Catmalojin]

Woke up to a very light dusting of snow here in Dublin this morning!

[JD47]

Landed in Dublin airport today.
I thought I was going to die because as we were about to land the plane went from side to side and it looked like the wing was going to smash of the ground.
Very windy indeed.

[thebig C]

Originally Posted by JD47

Landed in Dublin airport today.
I thought I was going to die because as we were about to land the plane went from side to side and it looked like the wing was going to smash of the ground.
Very windy indeed.

Hey Mate

Hope you were comming back from somewhere nice?...Crosswinds can be very nerveracking, I have experienced it myself once or twice!

[Catmalojin]

Unseasonal weather leaves wildlife all mixed-up

JOANNE HUNT

Mon, Jan 16, 2012


Daffodils in full bloom at the Croppies Acre on Wolfe Tone Quay. The director of the National Botanic Gardens, Matthew Jebb, says records taken in the gardens showed that plants are now putting out their leaves two weeks earlier than they did 40 years ago. Photographs: Cyril Byrne

ALTHOUGH IT may still be officially winter, above-average air and soil temperatures have brought bird species ravaged by two consecutive cold winters bouncing back, while confused plants think it is spring.

“We’ve had phone calls from people saying they have fewer birds than normal, like robins, blue tits and starlings coming into their gardens,” says Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland. “People are worried that something has happened to them.”

With the mercury though remaining above freezing for most of this winter, natural foraging has been made easy, making bird tables, well, for the birds.

With stocks of Ireland’s smallest and second smallest birds, the goldcrest and the wren hit by two harsh winters in a row, this year’s milder winter should herald a population boost, according to Hatch.

Ireland’s smallest birds, some weighing just five grams, who survived the cold winter of 2009 to lay eggs in the breeding season, faced a second punishing winter in 2010. “There were lots of babies around in the autumn but then a cold winter hit again and it killed most of them off; the sad reality is that most of them don’t survive,” says Hatch.

“This winter, however, has been so mild that a higher proportion than usual of these babies survived and we are seeing these species bouncing back, which is good news.”

It has been a bumper winter for plants, too, with many thinking it is already spring. The director of the National Botanic Gardens, Matthew Jebb, says records taken in the gardens show that plants are now putting out their leaves two weeks earlier than they did 40 years ago.

Visitors to the gardens this week will be rewarded with the sight of the native cowslip in full bloom, a plant that normally flowers at the earliest in March. Cow parsley is flowering too, a native plant that usually doesn’t colour Irish roadsides until March or April.

Jebb says strawberries in the garden are in full flower also. “As far as they are concerned, it’s spring. To have them flower two months ahead shows what an odd year we’ve been having.”

While it is still too early for our annual visitation by swallows, climate change has also brought their arrival date forward. With their peak arrival months being April and May, with a scattering of pioneers sometimes touching down in March, springalive.net, a Europe and Africa-wide monitoring programme, has found that “on average, swallows are arriving two weeks earlier than they did 20 years ago”, according to Hatch.

Met Éireann forecaster John Eagleton says ground temperatures have not been as cold as the past two winters.

“The mean [air] temperature in January would normally be five degrees for Dublin and Cork and now it’s seven for Dublin and 7½ for Cork, that’s 2½ degrees above normal. It will be an early season for daffodils if it goes on like this, that’s for sure.”

© 2012 The Irish Times

...

[Catmalojin]

Beautiful photographs.

Northern lights display: Donegal skies transformed

RONAN McGREEVY

Tue, Jan 24, 2012


The Aurora Borealis as captured above the northern shoreline of Fanad Head by local amateur astronomer and photographer Brendan Alexander of DonegalSkies.com


The Northern Lights seen from Urris, Clonmany, Inishowen, Co Donegal on Sunday night. Photograph: Adam Porter.

NATURE PUT on one of its most awe-inspiring shows over north Donegal with a rare glimpse of the Aurora Borealis, better known as the Northern Lights.

The stunning display was seen by thousands of people and captured on camera along the north Donegal coast on Sunday night and yesterday morning.

Amateur astronomer Brendan Alexander captured his photograph during a parting of the clouds on Sunday night when the rain stayed away just long enough to give him a chance to take the images.

The photograph was taken from Fanad Head in northern Donegal between 8.30pm and 9pm on Sundaynight.

The photographer said he used a Canon camera with a 30-second exposure. Mr Alexander had been tracking a solar flare since it was reported by Nasa to have erupted from the Sun’s surface last Thursday. Auroras occur when ionised particles from the sun hit the earth’s atmosphere and react with the gases, in this case oxygen which gives off the red and green colours.

They occur at extreme latitudes because the ions are attracted towards the magnetic poles.

They are not usually seen as far south as Ireland, but this one has. It was due to hit earth’s atmosphere at 10.30pm on Saturday, but it did not come until Sunday morning and the activity levels kept building during the day.

The Kp, or radiation level, which is a measure of how strong the display will be, was between 4.5 and 5, enough for the lights to be seen from Donegal, but it needs a 6 for the view to be seen across Ireland.

Those who missed the Northern Lights on Sunday night may have another chance in the next couple of days.

The sun, which is going through its active phase at the moment, threw off its biggest solar flare for six years yesterday morning.

The flare is travelling at an estimated 6.7 million km/h towards earth.

It is due to hit earth tonight and into the early hours of tomorrow morning.

© 2012 The Irish Times

More photographs:


From 'Donegal Weather Channel' on Facebook.

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

From 'muckish' over on Boards.ie.