So cold the docks froze over

Zzippy

Anyone see the Docks last night/this morning? First time I've ever seen it frozen over. Two trawlers came in last night while I was there and the sound of crunching ice was fantastic. There again this morning and the Celtic Explorer had come in overnight, most of the water where it would have broken the ice coming in was frozen again. Brrrr! :eek:

Photos won't embed for some reason so just linked to flickr...

http://flickr.com/photos/bradan99/3176717704/

http://flickr.com/photos/bradan99/3176717410/

Fey!

They're two great pics.

The little lough in front of Claddagh church is frozen over, too. You can see where people have just thrown in their rubbish, but it's just sitting on the ice. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me.

Das Kitty

The Claddagh Basin is a cess pool. I'm astounded it froze considering what is mixed in with the water.

I have seen the docks frozen before but it was years and years ago when there were no apartments and the only thing on the road was Padraig's

dloob

I think the last time I saw the docks frozen was around new years in 2001.
It was a pretty thin layer that time.

Fey!

Das Kitty wrote: »

The Claddagh Basin is a cess pool.

That's unfair to cess pools.:D

Das Kitty

My school was in the Fisheries building for just over a year and the horrific stink that would rise out of the claddagh basin on a hot day would kill a horse.

Then when it flooded the water used to fill up about a foot of the ground floor of the building and the building itself was designed to deal with this because instead of walls it had wooden partitions that only extended to about a 2 foot above floor level. You could see people's ankles in the other rooms.

After the flood the fire brigade would come round the corner and hose out the ground floor of any "debris" left behind.

Eugh.

swalsh

The docks started to freeze over before 7pm last night, noticed as I was heading in to town. On the way home I had a 5c and rolled it a fair distance on the surface. Also yesterday morning alot of Lough Atalia was frozen over, something I only heard of in folklore

skywalker_208

Cool pics!
Anyone got any of Lough Atalia?

cornbb

swalsh wrote: »

Also yesterday morning alot of Lough Atalia was frozen over, something I only heard of in folklore

Frozen seawater?? Jaysus, thats pretty extreme! :eek:

Das Kitty

Docks are seawater too!

ronnie3585

Very cool pics. I remember my dad telling me about one winter 'back in the day' when the docks froze solid for about a week. He said people were able to walk across it.

cornbb

Das Kitty wrote: »

Docks are seawater too!

Oh yeah, doh

swalsh

skywalker_208 wrote: »

Cool pics!
Anyone got any of Lough Atalia?

No, only a dodgy iphone camera, not worth a damn

JohnCleary

Spotted it myself last night and I was astounded... I just stood there looking at it Doubt it was all that thick though.. was going to throw something in to see if it'd break but lazyness got the better of me

As you know Seawater takes much colder tempratures to freeze which made me :eek: a little, but then I remembered that the Docks is very much brackish water (mixture of salt/fresh)

The Claddagh basin is almost totally fresh water (might be a tiny bit of salt but you wouldn't even be able to taste it) so not surprised it froze. Guess the main reason they froze was because of the stillness of the water? Surprised at Lough Atalia though, it could only have been frozen around the Huntsman end though? Surely there's soo much water activity (ie. flow) beside the train bridge/Radisson side

swalsh

JohnCleary wrote: »

Spotted it myself last night and I was astounded... I just stood there looking at it Doubt it was all that thick though.. was going to throw something in to see if it'd break but lazyness got the better of me

As you know Seawater takes much colder tempratures to freeze which made me :eek: a little, but then I remembered that the Docks is very much brackish water (mixture of salt/fresh)

The Claddagh basin is almost totally fresh water (might be a tiny bit of salt but you wouldn't even be able to taste it) so not surprised it froze. Guess the main reason they froze was because of the stillness of the water? Surprised at Lough Atalia though, it could only have been frozen around the Huntsman end though? Surely there's soo much water activity (ie. flow) beside the train bridge/Radisson side

I would have thought that too but it started just after the railway bridge where there would usually be plenty of flow. It wasn't consistent the whole way up, just enough patches for the ducks to have a swim. They must have frozen their asses off!

Zzippy

JohnCleary wrote: »

Spotted it myself last night and I was astounded... I just stood there looking at it Doubt it was all that thick though.. was going to throw something in to see if it'd break but lazyness got the better of me

As you know Seawater takes much colder tempratures to freeze which made me :eek: a little, but then I remembered that the Docks is very much brackish water (mixture of salt/fresh)

The Claddagh basin is almost totally fresh water (might be a tiny bit of salt but you wouldn't even be able to taste it) so not surprised it froze. Guess the main reason they froze was because of the stillness of the water? Surprised at Lough Atalia though, it could only have been frozen around the Huntsman end though? Surely there's soo much water activity (ie. flow) beside the train bridge/Radisson side

Think SW freezes at -1.8C (water temp), brackish water probably somewhere between that and 0C, but that's bloody cold for water temps! It was very still alright, any wave action at all and it would probably not have frozen.

Added another pic from this morning: http://flickr.com/photos/bradan99/3176040991/

JohnCleary

The difference in temp between fresh/salt water this time of year is amazing. No problem swimming in Salt water this time of year, but I put my hand into Fresh (Shannon) water on the weekend and christ is was so cold it was painful! :eek:

ethernet

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Very cool pics. I remember my dad telling me about one winter 'back in the day' when the docks froze solid for about a week. He said people were able to walk across it.

Better than the ice rink! Might be able to get a job there. Anyone??

Was -3 deg C at one point here out in the sticks last night. Not sure what it was in town.

Fey!

It was somewhere around -2 from 8pm onwards (according to the temp sensor in the car).

skelliser

on met.ie this morning at 8am it was -4

Krieg

As requested, lough atalia at 10am this morning

http://i42.tinypic.com/70fce1.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/1z4zhh4.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/iedz40.jpg

Mars Bar

Saw it today myself...poor birds(animal birds!) were just standing there on the ice. They didn't have a clue!

JohnCleary

Well fcuk me pink - Lough Atalia frozen until right before the train track bridge - didn't think there's be ice that close to a current

Went down the docks for a walk earlier, ice was well thick on the Dun Aengus side. I threw a few pebbles in and they just bounced on the ice. Went back to the pontoons where the private boats are moored and some plank(s) had thrown in a wheel rim and exhaust pipe :eek: even more shocking they had only half penetrated the ice and were just stuck there on the surface :eek: At least they'll sink when the ice melts but jaysus lads if ye're gonna throw stuff onto the ice, throw small things, not flippin wheel rims! Tisin't good for the oul enviornment y'know :pac:

I think I even spotted a boardsie down there, but won't say anything until I get confirmation :P

banshee_bones

those pics of lough atalia are great, only heard about the docks today coz a friend was down there and they were throwing stones to see how thick it was! when i went to bed last night it was saying -2 for galway, heard it was -8 in the midlands last night...

biko

Krieg

Lough atalia was the same again this morning, one of the swans got caught and started throwing a fit, we were about to run down to him until he managed to break free. There is still quite a number of tiny icebergs floating around the lough. Id love to see it properly frozen over. My Parents were telling me that it almost completely froze over about 20 years ago, to the point where they were able to walk about 30 feet out

Myxomatosis

Was driving down Lough Atalia Rd a few mins ago. About a third of it is still frozen over, with a few icebergs here and there.

It's a bit choppy so the "icebergs" just appear as these perfectly still sections of water scattered around the lough.

Where the ice meets the water there's a line of churned up slush. Very interesting to look at, pity I was stuck in a car.

Who's yer man that has a tent set up on the bank up near the bridge? He's set up on the slop of the bank so it's hard to see from the road. Remember seeing it a few months ago too. Is he there all the time?

Bass Cadet

There ye go...proof that oil and toxic sh!te does actually freeze at the same temperature as water!

Nice pics

Krieg

Aye still a good part of it frozen over.
http://i42.tinypic.com/s2bc4y.jpg

Myxomatosis wrote: »

Who's yer man that has a tent set up on the bank up near the bridge? He's set up on the slop of the bank so it's hard to see from the road. Remember seeing it a few months ago too. Is he there all the time?

Never seen the guy, quite interested to know though

ukgalwaymcguire

beautiful photos!!! really stunning
thanks for that ive been in dublin last couple of days.. can tell you now the liffey wasnt frozen , but it was bloody cold out there last night!!!
sat right by it outside the o2, waiting for the kids too come out of the chris brown concert... freezing wasnt the word!!

DRakE

Das Kitty wrote: »

The Claddagh Basin is a cess pool. I'm astounded it froze considering what is mixed in with the water.

its liquid.