Freezing rain ...do not drive

peasant

Over on the weather forum there are reports that rain is moving across the country even though temps are still below zero.

These are lethal conditions! The rain will freeze immediately on contact with the frozen ground, turning everything into a sheet of ice.

Do not venture out in these conditions, it is not safe. Postpone your trips until you're sure that this mess is over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBZXyxHWFoY

cormie

Any idea what it's supposed to be like along the east coast, Dun Laoghaire to Bray in particular? That looks pretty lethal alright in the vidjo!

peasant

You can check the progress of the front here

http://www.raintoday.co.uk/

Won't be long now before it's everywhere

cormie

Hmm, no red or purple over east coast yet from that. Wonder how long I have? I can't really read weather

Chriscl1

Raining here in tipp now.

flamegrill

Rain here in graignamanagh on the Kilkenny/Carlow border. It's not freezing though!

Our man in Havana

Freezing rain in Rathdowney now. Rain is freezing on contact.

alo1587

Raining in North Cork since 9am,roads were lethal for a couple of hours,but they're thawing out slowly..safe enough now,take it handy though..

mike65

Waterford is fine (ie its pissing down but not freezing)

gyppo

Rain fell in Moate around 11 this morning, and made the minor roads even more lethal. Cant say how the rest of them are, as I wasnt on them.

Nic'name

mike65 wrote: »

Waterford is fine (ie its pissing down but not freezing)

We're 'supposed' to be driving from Cork to Waterford. Hopefully we'll be able to as my boyfriend needs to get down to see his family but we wont be if it's too deadly. Anyone got any recommendations, is it suicide or should we be ok to attempt driving with care.

biko

Galway no rain but cloud cover

Lex Luthor

Rain just hitting Naas now

unkel

Still dry in Lucan, but the front on that website looks awfully close. Air temp -5 at 8AM, -2 at 12PM and 0 now, but roads are still frozen.

SV

Wow..this is crazy, roads appear to be just wet but they're lethal. Tried to drive the car out but couldn't move it from it's spot without excessive wheel spin!

feck this..

AugustusMaximus

I'd say don't venture out unless you have studded tyres.

And I doubt many on here have those.

Our man in Havana

AugustusMaximus wrote: »

I'd say don't venture out unless you have studded tyres.

And I doubt many on here have those.

Can't say I have even seen those for sale in this country.

AugustusMaximus

Bond-007 wrote: »

Can't say I have even seen those for sale in this country.

True. They would be quite handy for those living high up in the mountainous areas during the winter.


However, standard winter tyres would be fairly useless on the ice we might see today.

Heroditas

unkel wrote: »

Still dry in Lucan, but the front on that website looks awfully close. Air temp -5 at 8AM, -2 at 12PM and 0 now, but roads are still frozen.

Yeah it was lethal up around Beech Park earlier.

unkel

Rain just started. Temp 1 degree, and rising. We might get away with it - need to go out in about an hour.

unkel

Just over 2 degrees now. The rain is not freezing, the ice on the roads is melting. We got away with it, there's no more frost forecast for the Dublin area for the next few days.

Check the roads / forecasts for your area if you're going out, folks. There's nothing as dangerous as freezing rain. If there's a chance of it, stay in.

Webmonkey

Wow water on this ice/snow is really crazy alright. Met the brow of a hill, then after that well, it was no steering....car slide all the way down, most of the time spinning sideways. This was at only 10mph! (initially, say got to 20mph sliding then) Crazy out there....not chancing that again. Gained control again, phew...

lostdesign

anyone know what the roads are like from kilcock to naas through clane and sallins??

I am supposed to be travelling from enfield to naas later today but our estate is like an ice rink so wondering if the roads are the same...

peasant

Severe ice and rain are continuing to make driving conditions hazardous, and motorists are advised to be particularly cautious on secondary and local roads.

Gardaí in Galway have advised people not to travel at all, and have warned that heavy rain across the county has frozen and made driving conditions treacherous.

Emergency services have also warned motorists to avoid local roads around Navan in Co Meath.

A spokesperson for the Dublin Fire Brigade said all routes into and out of the town are now 'virtually impassable' due to icy conditions.

Met Eireann forecast that temperatures would drop to as low as -9C overnight.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1225/weather.html

dudara

Spoke to my parents in Northwest Cork this morning - it had been raining and all our front yard was a sheet of ice due to the rain freezing on contact. Completely impassable around the place.

I'm in Waterford for Christmas with the inlaws and it was raining here around midday. Dunno what the conditions are like as I haven't stuck my head out at all.

We're driving from Waterford to Cork tomorrow (fingers crossed) so hopefully conditions will be better by then.

Webmonkey

peasant wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1225/weather.html

I thought it was over -9 again tonight. Will it ever end... Going to be a lot of drunken falls tomorrow night no doubt..

Atomic Pineapple

I'm in Meath, about 15 min from Navan, its been lashing rain for the last 3 - 4 hours but hasn't been freezing, the roads are now wet but fine for driving on.

Gary ITR

unkel wrote: »

Rain just started. Temp 1 degree, and rising. We might get away with it - need to go out in about an hour.

I had to walk the dog, little bollox pulled me when he saw a cat and i ended up on my arse. Wouldn't fancy being behind the wheel today

peasant

just been outside (to the dustbin and back:D) here in Sligo and after the little thaw we had today, everything is frozen over again ...rock hard and deadly slippery.

CR 7

peasant wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1225/weather.html

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1225/weather.html

Severe ice and rain are continuing to make driving conditions hazardous, and motorists are advised to be particularly cautious on secondary and local roads.

Gardaí in Galway have advised people not to travel at all, and have warned that heavy rain across the county has frozen and made driving conditions treacherous.

Emergency services have also warned motorists to avoid local roads around Navan in Co Meath.

A spokesperson for the Dublin Fire Brigade said all routes into and out of the town are now 'virtually impassable' due to icy conditions.

AA Roadwatch has warned that many roads in county Tipperary are also impassable.

However, the cold snap does look set to ease later, although Met Éireann has forecast that temperatures may drop to -3C overnight, with rain, sleet and snow expected in parts of the north and east of the country.

Harcrid

I have never seen the road conditions as bad in this country as they have been over the last week. Absolutely treacherous and dangerous.

Play it safe and stay indoors by the fire!

Caliden

Have to drive home in 30 minutes.
I live 10 miles outside of Galway city and when I was home earlier for dinner the roads near my house were lethal!
Even going <5 kmh is so dangerous.

Wish me luck!

Atomic Pineapple

Caliden wrote: »

Have to drive home in 30 minutes.
I live 10 miles outside of Galway city and when I was home earlier for dinner the roads near my house were lethal!
Even going <5 kmh is so dangerous.

Wish me luck!

Hope ya got home safe.

Its 0 degrees here but driving conditions are fine

Anyone any updates on the Galway - Athlone - Cavan road. Heading that way in the morning.

tuxy

Just driven around a few back roads here in North Tipp. It's insane, never seen anything like this. Had to stick to 20 kmph for a lot of the trip.

Hal1

Keep an eye on this (AA roadwatch) if you have to travel.

Updated: 25/12/2009 20:59:22 *CONDITIONS* A dangerous night with numerous minor collisions. Gardai are advising motorists not to drive unless absolutely necessary. **Bear in mind that braking distance is 10 times greater when driving on ice, so keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you

I wouldn't be braking hard in the ice though. :rolleyes:

bazz26

Just back from the inlaws in Limerick City and the roads there are like glass. It rained today and there was a little bit of a thaw but since it got dark the roads and paths are lethal so take car out there.

Incidently, I had an idiot on my tail most of the way home, do these planks need a big neon sign lit up for them to tell them keep their distance or are some Irish drivers just genetically dumb? :mad:

argosy2006

bazz26 wrote: »

Just back from the inlaws in Limerick City and the roads there are like glass. It rained today and there was a little bit of a thaw but since it got dark the roads and paths are lethal so take car out there.

Incidently, I had an idiot on my tail most of the way home, do these planks need a big neon sign lit up for them to tell them keep their distance or are some Irish drivers just genetically dumb? :mad:

id go with genetically dumb, !

gally74

worst roads ive ever seen today,

waterford ring road was deadly, round abouts etc.

the back roads between nass and kilcock etc. were unreal pure ice, all the way

lostdesign

gally74 wrote: »

worst roads ive ever seen today,

waterford ring road was deadly, round abouts etc.

the back roads between nass and kilcock etc. were unreal pure ice, all the way

Glad I decided to stay at home, was supposed to travel from enfield to naas this evening, doubt I would have got the car out of the driveway!!

Hopefully there are no major instances during the night.

Fighting Irish

Thanks for the adivce, i was gonna go out rallying

Bobo78

I was coming back from Galway to Limerick this evening at around 8 o'clock and the roads after Gort were very bad especially the dual carriagway and the motorway from Gort to Limerick.
The fastest safest speed you could do on Motorway was 60 kph.
If you try to drive any faster you would spin the wheels and loose traction of the car. It was very dangerous.
When I came to Limerick city roads were the same, maybe even worse.

If your driving this evening around Crescent Shopping Centre be aware when you approching the new bridge, cause you could easily skid and go backwards and hit the car behind you so remember to keep high distance between you and the car in front of you.

snowman707

bazz26 wrote: »

or are some Irish drivers just genetically dumb? :mad:

Yes, some Irish drivers are just plain idiots.

L1011

Just back from Ashbourne there, most drivers were keeping it slow. Bit too slow in some cases - theres no need to do only 30mph on a treated motorway! - but you can pass them there; didn't see anyone pushing above about 15/20 on estate or town roads that weren't treated.

Was what a 3dr Mk2 Punto at the N2/M50 interchange that appeared to have hit the back of something then had an engine fire; or just had a very catastrophic engine fire - horrible night for that to happen to someone!

mukki

i blame finna fail for this.

Its there fault, and they should have done something to prevent this, systems should be put in place to make sure this never happens again. That other bunch are no better, this dam country is a joke

and so is this post. I have been drinking since 3pm and am on antibiotics

h3000

spotted this earlier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MPRmOUxRMY

Random

h3000 wrote: »

spotted this earlier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MPRmOUxRMY

Jesus christ !

Alanstrainor

h3000 wrote: »

spotted this earlier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MPRmOUxRMY

Bail out!
Madness.

Random

Seems a bit mental getting out of the car given they almost got run over by it? Where was this? Was it today?

unkel

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Bail out!
Madness.

+1

I couldn't believe when they opened the doors. What were they thinking? If I won't jump out now, I might be killed? :rolleyes:

AugustusMaximus

h3000 wrote: »

spotted this earlier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MPRmOUxRMY

I just hope that the guy was OK.

What were they thinking ?