The week ahead ( Snow predictions & general outlook)

nacho libre

whitemocha wrote: »

this one looks good i think not great on these charts lol

oh yeah that would deliver the foot of snow we're after for sure:pac:

Anfield Road

Looks like it's going to miss Wicklow so!. The Sky forecast wasn't too promising for us either, maybe a few showers tomorrow afternoon but that looks like all we will get up here. Ah well, did really well from New Years Eve to mid Jan up here, snowed in, schools closed etc plus some fab photo's and fun!.

cherryghost

bbc forecast totally contradicting whats being forecast here. looks crap. mostly dry with some showers, the precip is literally wrapping around the county

nacho libre

cherryghost wrote: »

bbc forecast totally contradicting whats being forecast here. looks crap. mostly dry with some showers, the precip is literally wrapping around the county

yes, it looks as if it'll be dry for most of the country, except the north and northwest. there'll be a wintry mix from time to time in these areas, with snow possible at night. so we are not going to get a big send off to winter but it'll be nice to see snow fall nonetheless.

In a word another mickey mouse set up with mickey mouse snow.
A cm or 2 of wet stuff again like last night and this morning for a few flukey places and the rest on the high ground.

No use.

I see a similar carry on in the medium term in the models.
It's like lannigans ball.
Cold again not so cold again etc etc chop and change.

The ECm is showing an utterly useless dry easterly

Gonzo

Its nice to see the snow but at this stage its kinda wasted its so late in the winter. Blink and you miss it, it melts so fast after sunrise.

snaps

wheres this front supposed to be coming from? Scotland? Because after today the percip is supposed to finish up there?

nacho libre

i guess in winters dominated by mild south westerlies, for weeks on end, we'd be happy to get even a whiff of wet snow, that resulted in temporary accumulations, even at this late stage.

however, when thinking about this winter, it is extremely frustrating that we never got one major snowfall to rival fabled falls of the past. all the background signals were in our favour yet still we never got a widespread snow fall that deposited more than 6 inches at lower levels. i really doubt we'll see a winter like this one again, where the atlantic is kept at bay for so long, for a long, long time to come. ah it's just really annoying and frustrating the more i think about it- so i wont anymore!;)

H2UMrsRobinson

I'm actually becoming sick and tired of this half-arsed crap weather. It's putting me in a bad humour. C'mon do something interesting why don't you. Show us what you're made of. I'm not fussy... a thunderstorm wouldn't go a miss. heck why not a tornado? Just stop jogging along with no purpose or direction...ARRHHG!!!

Ok rant over, feeling better. :P

nacho libre

nacho libre wrote: »

i guess in winters dominated by mild south westerlies, for weeks on end, we'd be happy to get even a whiff of wet snow, that resulted in temporary accumulations, even at this late stage.

however, when thinking about this winter, it is extremely frustrating that we never got one major snowfall to rival fabled falls of the past. all the background signals were in our favour yet still we never got a widespread snow fall that deposited more than 6 inches at lower levels. i really doubt we'll see a winter like this one again, where the atlantic is kept at bay for so long, for a long, long time to come. ah it's just really annoying and frustrating the more i think about it- so i wont anymore!;)

In fairness though,there was 2 weeks of lying snow in Eastern areas in january with a good 4 to 6 inches cover on low ground which counts as among the list of exceptional events.
It's certainly as good as I've seen at any time in the 80's or earlier
Obviously it wasn't as good as january '87,january 82 [the big one...will I ever forget the drifts here most of the way up the telephone poles :eek: we even had a tractor buried in the snow in that one:eek::eek:] and 85 and 86 and of course february '91-but it's an equivalent.
Places for instance not so high up and actually in the Dublin commuter belt last january like Rathdrum and glencullen had over a foot of snow (with much deeper drifts) as had Roundwood.

Su Campu

Latest HIRLAM for Friday evening gives a band of precipitation moving southwestwards as far as a line Wicklow-Galway, before retreating back northeastwards early Saturday.

The GFS has uppers colder than the NAE regarding snow potential, bringing the snowline pretty much down to the surface for much of the area, while the NAE has a much milder setup, with snow above around only 150m in the northwest and Wicklow, and 200-250m elsewhere.

nacho libre

Deleted User wrote: »

In fairness though,there was 2 weeks of lying snow in Eastern areas in january with a good 4 to 6 inches cover on low ground which counts as among the list of exceptional events.
It's certainly as good as I've seen at any time in the 80's or earlier
Obviously it wasn't as good as january '87,january 82 [the big one...will I ever forget the drifts here most of the way up the telephone poles :eek: we even had a tractor buried in the snow in that one:eek::eek:] and 85 and 86 and of course february '91-but it's an equivalent.
Places for instance not so high up and actually in the Dublin commuter belt last january like Rathdrum and glencullen had over a foot of snow (with much deeper drifts) as had Roundwood.

but that's what i mean outside of high ground it wasn't exceptional in terms of snowfall if you are old enough to remember the best snowfalls in the eighties or fabled snowy winters before that.

the duration of the cold was no doubt exceptional(something we'll not likely see for years to come), but the snow return at lower levels wasn't on a par with the years you mention nor was it anything like 1947. i know it's unrealistic to expect such accumulations given our location, but it would be nice all the same to have similar experiences to the one you and others have from the eighties. i must admit i'm more than a little envious!
of course i go away and see such snowfall in other countries, but it's not the same as experiencing it in your own backyard.

lucernarian

The problem with the last cold spell is that snow was very localised with each passing event. If my memory recalls, the 1996 winter had a more widespread snowfall and many here remember the 00/01 winter for snowfall over 6 inches widely. Either from the polar low after Christmas or the Shrove Tuesday event, and I can remember digging through a 1.1 metre drift beside my house 5 days after that event (which I admit was limited to the eastern seaboard)

As far as cold spells go, this year was severe, but the snow that low levels got was rarely organised in nature. There was certainly no widespread "stalled occluded front" snow which has brought immense amounts of snow here in the past.

Deep Easterly

nacho libre wrote: »

but that's what i mean outside of high ground it wasn't exceptional in terms of snowfall if you are old enough to remember the best snowfalls in the eighties or fabled snowy winters before that.

the duration of the cold was no doubt exceptional(something we'll not likely see for years to come), but the snow return at lower levels wasn't on a par with the years you mention nor was it anything like 1947. i know it's unrealistic to expect such accumulations given our location, but it would be nice all the same to have similar experiences to the one you and others have from the eighties. i must admit i'm more than a little envious!
of course i go away and see such snowfall in other countries, but it's not the same as experiencing it in your own backyard.

Sums up this winter nicely. Yes, the duration of the cold was certainly notable, but totally forgetable in terms of anything significanly wintry. I.E SNOW. I know parts of the east and indeed many parts of the NW did reasonably well, but even within these areas, it was not really on a widespread scale, and I argue that these areas are capable of much better in an average winter. Here in the west, we had many days with snowfall, some of which did stay frozen for a number of days in January in skimpy sort of way, but overall snowfall this winter has been weak to downright rubbish.

Even Atlantic, westerly sourced snow showers give a better covering than what we had at anytime this year, and that is saying something. While the frosts were nice, and quite severe at times, it really becomes boring afterawhile when that is all you get. I am not a fan of insipid weather, but this winter has proved that insipidy rules the roast. No active weather at all. I have almost forgotten what the effects of a weak Atlantic frontal zone is like, not to mention an active one, which are usually the norm in winter. Rainfall and rainfall intensity I have never experience being so low in any whole season as this one. The irony is, this did not come from any deep sourced easterly, which would have compensated very much, but just from slack, col, nothing type conditions that dominated much of this winter.

The winter of 2009/2010 will be remembered, more for its statistics rather than for anything worthwhile.

arctictree

OK, I know I'm on high ground here but this winter has by far been the best I've seen for snowfall due to the fact that we've had numerous events. I've been here 10 years now. Since a week before XMas to now we've had about 6 snow events and two of them gave snow of over 9 inches. We got 14 inches due to that front in mid January. The only problem was that the 2 major snow events were followed by a mad thaw which got really messy. The Feb/March 01 snowfall was better becuase it was followed by 6 days of freezing weather. Ditto for the '09 snowfall.

We were forced to dig a route for the jeep out of the driveway in January. That doesn't happen very often!

nacho libre

indeed paddy 1. you summarise eloquently why this was a disappointing winter to some of us. as you say we(those of us in the west) saw many snow days, but the frustrating thing is that in other years that were predominantly mild throughout we've seen greater amounts of snow accumulate not just here, but on a more widespread scale.

i recall a John Eagleton forecast back at the very start of the cold spell in December, where he said i think we'll have a widespread significant snowfall but this one won't be it. yet we never did despite the charts and background signals continually hinting a snowfall with significant accumulations was on the cards.

of course if you love cold and dry weather this was a fantastic winter. i have to say while i did enjoy the days where the temperatures struggled to get above freezing, and the sky was like something you'd see on your travels to colder climates and the frost clinging to the trees was also a joy to see, after a while i tend to see cold weather as a waste if it doesn't deliver a good fall of snow.

nacho libre

arctictree wrote: »

OK, I know I'm on high ground here but this winter has by far been the best I've seen for snowfall due to the fact that we've had numerous events. I've been here 10 years now. Since a week before XMas to now we've had about 6 snow events and two of them gave snow of over 9 inches. We got 14 inches due to that front in mid January. The only problem was that the 2 major snow events were followed by a mad thaw which got really messy. The Feb/March 01 snowfall was better becuase it was followed by 6 days of freezing weather. Ditto for the '09 snowfall.

We were forced to dig a route for the jeep out of the driveway in January. That doesn't happen very often!

oh yeah no argument that if you lived on high ground, particulary in the east, this was a great winter for a snow addict. i recall a guy on the news from roundwood said it was the most snow he had seen since the sixties!

miseagustusa

has anyone seen the big ring around the moon tonight Whats dat all about, pretty freaky:eek:

miseagustusa

ok i googled about the ring around the moon and this is what i got

Moon halos are caused by tiny ice crystals that have gathered twenty thousand feet above the ground, as thin, wispy clouds. These clouds are so thin, you might not notice them at night, if it weren’t for their effect on the moonlight. Incoming light rays from the moon are bent, or diffracted, by these ice crystals at an angle of 22 degrees.

This means that in addition to the direct moonlight, you will also see diffracted moonlight in a circle 22 degrees away from the moon. This is about the distance of your fist, held at arm’s length.

Like a rainbow, this halo can even be slightly colored; red on the inside, and blue on the outside.... See more

Yes, it can mean that rain or snow is coming soon. Those high, wispy clouds could be the forerunners of storm clouds right behind them

.

miseagustusa

where is everybody tonight????

delw

miseagustusa wrote: »

where is everybody tonight????

prob taken a well earned break after the rollercoasters they have bn on;)

snaps

well this is one of the 1st mornings for a very very long time there is no frost here. Its barmy here compared of late, 4.7c....Havent seen that 1st thing in the morning for a very very long time.

So is that the end of the cold weather now for the west?

Speak Now

snaps wrote: »

So is that the end of the cold weather now for the west?

Absolutely










NOT

Possible snow showers tonight.........maybe

DOCARCH

Still a cold and wintry outlook from Met E this morning:

Sunday: Some bright spells; wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow are likely, particularly heavy in the west. Cold and breezy especially so over Leinster and east Ulster with a raw and gusty northeasterly wind producing significant wind chill. Winds easing down with a severe frost Sunday night/Monday morning. Monday: Sunny spells and dry apart from well scattered snow showers. Winds dropping light or calm with a very severe frost becoming widespread Monday night. Rest of next week: Good sunny spells or even sunny skies apart from isolated snow showers brought in by a raw northeasterly wind over east Ulster, Leinster and Muster; almost calm elsewhere with freezing fog persisting in places through the days. Daytime temperatures several degrees below average and severe night nights will keep soil temperatures well below the seasonal norm.

DOCARCH

AA Roadwatch reporting heavy snow falling atm in Naas! Where will it all end!

Vudgie

Drizzly showers in Dublin's CC this morning, don't think they will amount to much. Felt positively mild this morning in D16. Cleary a great deal of precipitation around which could turn to something more interesting given the right scenario this weekend. Although I am convinved that anything that happens will be of the wet variety with temps not staying low enough to stop complete thaw during daylight.

Tom Cruises Left Nut

DOCARCH wrote: »

AA Roadwatch reporting heavy snow falling atm in Naas! Where will it all end!

What !!!! and me in Dublin !! argh !!! I can only see snow on the hills behind me pah !! :mad::mad::mad:

Bring back Owen !! :pac:

snaps

yes snow level here around 450-500m as the conemmara mountains are getting covered in snow (top 1/3rd). raining here at sea level. 5c.

snowjon

Another heavy snow warning for here - nothing much came of the last one yesterday but you never know:

Northern Ireland:
Co Antrim Co Derry Co Down Co Tyrone
Heavy Snow

Outbreaks of rain and sleet will turn increasingly to snow, mainly above 150m, through this afternoon and evening and become persistent and heavy at times. Accumulations of 5 to 10cm are expected, with 20cm possible over higher ground.
The public are advised to take extra care and refer to TrafficWatchNI.com (operational hours 07.00 to 21.00 Mon to Fri and 09:00 to17:00 on Saturdays) for further advice on road conditions.

Issued at: 0943 Fri 26 Feb

Not

tinners wrote: »

What !!!! and me in Dublin !! argh !!! I can only see snow on the hills behind me pah !! :mad::mad::mad:

Bring back Owen !! :pac:

Dont worry, you didnt miss anything worth seeing. No sign of a snowflake anywhere near Naas, either falling or on the ground, at 10:30am.