Tuesday 12th - Strong winds, Heavy Rain & Surprise Snow

cherryghost

very windy here in longford. no rain/sleet/snow yet. 1c

Mossy Monk

redsteveireland wrote: »

It might not happen as quick as you think, ground probably still well frozen like around here.

I am sure you are right but the rise in temperatures will help.

Deep Easterly

Current readings:



Still windy in a sustained sort of way but gusts readings are not notable (max 42mph so far). Still looks like it is raining but still dry surprisingly.

Min

Min wrote: »

I'm going for more snow for the hills around here.

My prediction on the first page seems to be happening, currently snowing here.

M.T. Cranium

I think there are some extreme winds in Kerry, the Valentia sounding (weather balloon) at 0600 reported 80-100 mph winds in the first 3,000 feet of the ascent, and surface winds gusting to 70 mph, so from what I've been reading on here, it wouldn't surprise me if those stronger winds were bouncing off hillsides and through gaps between hills, maybe Jessie can confirm this but I'll bet she has some high elevations nearby to her house.

Anyway, these extreme winds in the southwest look like they should ease by 5-10 mph every hour until they settle in at 30-50 mph from the south, meanwhile because the gradient is weakening slowly, it shouldn't get much worse now in Galway and Clare, perhaps a few more knots of wind to come, and rest of the country, about the same thing, steady wind speeds for most places now, but the rain moving slowly further east, probably just a light mist or drizzle for a while as dry air has been turning rain into virga.

About 4-6 pm colder air is going to slam into this mess from the east and turn rain to snow in some northern counties and possibly central to Dublin as well, not to mention that it has been the case all day, snow is falling generally above 250 metres just because it's colder up there (the rain below is that snow melting).

Where the rain has been heavy over snow packs, flooding is very likely to begin soon. The snow melt rate has been generally quite fast.

I am fading in and out of consciousness here, there's quite a hum ... oh it's my fridge. :eek:

M.T. Cranium

I just hope the balloon family from Colorado wasn't visiting Ireland, their kid would be in Greenland by now.

inabina

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

I think there are some extreme winds in Kerry, the Valentia sounding (weather balloon) at 0600 reported 80-100 mph winds in the first 3,000 feet of the ascent, and surface winds gusting to 70 mph, so from what I've been reading on here, it wouldn't surprise me if those stronger winds were bouncing off hillsides and through gaps between hills, maybe Jessie can confirm this but I'll bet she has some high elevations nearby to her house.

Anyway, these extreme winds in the southwest look like they should ease by 5-10 mph every hour until they settle in at 30-50 mph from the south, meanwhile because the gradient is weakening slowly, it shouldn't get much worse now in Galway and Clare, perhaps a few more knots of wind to come, and rest of the country, about the same thing, steady wind speeds for most places now, but the rain moving slowly further east, probably just a light mist or drizzle for a while as dry air has been turning rain into virga.

About 4-6 pm colder air is going to slam into this mess from the east and turn rain to snow in some northern counties and possibly central to Dublin as well, not to mention that it has been the case all day, snow is falling generally above 250 metres just because it's colder up there (the rain below is that snow melting).

Where the rain has been heavy over snow packs, flooding is very likely to begin soon. The snow melt rate has been generally quite fast.

I am fading in and out of consciousness here, there's quite a hum ... oh it's my fridge. :eek:

this is a great update. what is your eta for precip arrival in dub? later than expected anyway...meaning the colder air is winning out and chance of snow in east has increased from earlier?

redsteveireland

Highest gust at Oranmore 128km/h this Hour

snow ghost

Almost snowing here (AKA SLEET!) here next to the sea, hopefully it will snow inland.

WolfeIRE

Proper heavy snow falling here. It is quite a sight. With the wind it's a like a sheet of white blowing sideways.

RoisinD

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

I think there are some extreme winds in Kerry, the Valentia sounding (weather balloon) at 0600 reported 80-100 mph winds in the first 3,000 feet of the ascent, and surface winds gusting to 70 mph, so from what I've been reading on here, it wouldn't surprise me if those stronger winds were bouncing off hillsides and through gaps between hills, maybe Jessie can confirm this but I'll bet she has some high elevations nearby to her house.

Anyway, these extreme winds in the southwest look like they should ease by 5-10 mph every hour until they settle in at 30-50 mph from the south, meanwhile because the gradient is weakening slowly, it shouldn't get much worse now in Galway and Clare, perhaps a few more knots of wind to come, and rest of the country, about the same thing, steady wind speeds for most places now, but the rain moving slowly further east, probably just a light mist or drizzle for a while as dry air has been turning rain into virga.

About 4-6 pm colder air is going to slam into this mess from the east and turn rain to snow in some northern counties and possibly central to Dublin as well, not to mention that it has been the case all day, snow is falling generally above 250 metres just because it's colder up there (the rain below is that snow melting).

Where the rain has been heavy over snow packs, flooding is very likely to begin soon. The snow melt rate has been generally quite fast.

I am fading in and out of consciousness here, there's quite a hum ... oh it's my fridge. :eek:

Thanks for that explanation MT. Such a lot to learn

Just been out to feed the birds (those of them brave enough to venture out) and it is now sleeting rather than raining. Temp now 2.4

cherryghost

pics please if you can

SeaFields

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

I think there are some extreme winds in Kerry, the Valentia sounding (weather balloon) at 0600 reported 80-100 mph winds in the first 3,000 feet of the ascent, and surface winds gusting to 70 mph, so from what I've been reading on here, it wouldn't surprise me if those stronger winds were bouncing off hillsides and through gaps between hills, maybe Jessie can confirm this but I'll bet she has some high elevations nearby to her house.

Was just talking to the girlfriend who is in Cahersiveen at the moment. She said the storm there is chaotic. There are trees down everywhere and she saw an artic lorry lose control fairly badly after it was hit by a strong gust.

Deep Easterly

Gusting up to 45mph now. Come on the 50mph!

M.T. Cranium

This snowy end to the day around Dublin was in the original forecast package but I am seeing how dry the air is now and that there may not be that much rain before the snow. I should stress, this snow in Dublin may melt near sea level, it's just a second part of the cooling of the moist air mass already starting to happen across central Ireland now, and it's looking like some places will start to see a heavy wet snow accumulating, it's as much by elevation as by region, but you're more likely to see it in the northern half of the country and inland. Everything is so close to the rain-snow margin as we go forward now, the mildest part of this storm was violently lifted off the surface about 0900h by the rapid occlusion, and I'm surprised we haven't had any thunder reports (maybe the wind is too noisy), because lightning detection has shown some returns around the south.

For Dublin in particular, I am thinking there could be 3-7 cms of snow during the evening hours, but the lower half and especially CBD with the 3 cms will be seeing most of that melting on contact while the 7 cms higher up could all stick. Then it would just melt slowly the next day, there isn't likely to be much of a freeze again until Thursday morning.

This storm is giving me a headache, still waiting for the snow to explode in Wales and southwest England, the atmosphere is just about saturated now.

If you run the 06z GFS animation or flip through the panels fast (try net-weather where they have the 1000-500 mb thickness by colours), you'll see how the mild uppers disappeared around 0900 and how a wave of slightly colder air rushes in by 1800 from Wales. By then the low is way out west of 20 longitude and the circulation has eased to about 20-30 mph over Ireland, so the slightly colder air hits the moist foggy air and it should set off more snow in the east to add to the snow in the higher north and west.

I don't know if those aliens are behind all this, but anyway ... I may just call it a day soon.

WolfeIRE

MT. any idea if this is going to turn back to rain this afternoon? Starting to settle now.:)

Sorry cherry. it's a low res crappy picture phone image.

EDIT: Just saw your new post. TY

Chicken Run

WolfeIRE wrote: »

MT. any idea if this is going to turn back to rain this afternoon? Starting to settle now.:)

Sorry cherry. it's a low res crappy picture phone image.

EDIT: Just saw your new post. TY

wow :eek:

wet as a wet thing now - back to the good old "Clare horizontal rain"

Water supply is back to my washing machine after 2 weeks - deep joy...

ellieh1

All our snow and ice has melted here in Limerick city, raining constantly but not heavy. Its very very windy, got me fingers toes and everything else crossed that my water comes back on soon

WolfeIRE

Looks like precip should shift from south west in the next hour, at least for a while.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/

Weather Warning

Issued at 12 January 2010 - 10:45
Weather Alert
Very windy today with some severe gusts across western and southwestern counties but winds easing early tonight. Wet weather continuing to extend countrywide today, some heavy falls across southern counties in particular, with some flooding likely from heavy rain and snow melting.
Risk of some sleet/snow for a time later this afternoon and overnight Tuesday, mainly across parts of the midlands, north Leinster and Ulster and mainly over higher ground here.

Min

I wonder if Met Eireann should have issued a warning for potential blizzards for areas that see snowfall.

sunbabe08

rain heavy here in cork, and high winds. what a difference 24 hours make

Deep Easterly

Latest met.ie reports:



http://www.met.ie/latest/reports.asp

All stations looking quite breezy at the moment!

Sponge Bob

WolfeIRE wrote: »

MT. any idea if this is going to turn back to rain this afternoon? Starting to settle now.:)

It is rain in Galway ..or soggy sleety rain, not snow. Dunno how it could be snow in Clare unless high up ...unlike me.

dfbemt

Lots of precip on the way or already falling.

I dread to think how the folks in parts that were affected by the floods last year are faring out. It must really be a miserable few months for them.

Graces7

Please stop panicking!

Power was out for about an hour.

On the island in winter we used to lose power in storms for three days.

It is no big deal; really it isn't.

I just took a very pleasant snooze.

Wild out there, but the snow is diminishing nicely.

The thickness of ice in the tyre tracks in the road is thinning pleasantly....

OPPS; cat just singed his tail on the superser.. now THAT is a drama!

irish1967 wrote: »

Getting very windy here now. Esb still out. I was in the process of setting up a weather / storm cam using ustream.com when power went off too. Anyone else in Donegal without power?

ch750536

WolfeIRE wrote: »

Proper heavy snow falling here. It is quite a sight. With the wind it's a like a sheet of white blowing sideways.

Had that this morning for about an hour or so, was blizzarding slightly more than it was melting.

Winds picked up a bit in the last hour, arthurs head blew off, have replaced it.

maquiladora

Flooding already....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0112/breaking20.htm

Graces7

Nah; we wash in a bucket of water always; cannot afford to heat water for a shower.

Easy;)

mad DIY wrote: »

There's going to be a lot of smelly Dubliners soon, me included

Deep Easterly

Rain, at last! Smashing loudly against the windows but is only light. Still breezy at 22mph mean.

Graces7

I was going to add that then thought maybe too...

Chicken Run wrote: »

baby wipes are your friend...