Big Freeze Discussion / Heavy snow & Blizzards continue - 02/12/2010

Daisy Steiner · 02-12-2010 4:01pm

Clear blue skies in East Limerick. Coooooold out there, got a bit of a fall of snow last night which is now frozen

Starting to panic slightly about the forecast, we are meant to get hit with snow tonight/tomorrow and my exams start on Monday. Hoping against hope that:

(a) They are not cancelled

and

(b) that I get there safely on these treacherous roads.

Rekop dog · 02-12-2010 4:01pm

silly amount of snow accumulated at this stage in D24.

Where is this IOM covering, are there still areas in Dublin that hasn't got at good pasting yet?

Kiera · 02-12-2010 4:01pm

Peckham wrote: »

hhhmmm - I think you're near where I live (Lusk). However, I'm in work at the moment. Do I need to start thinking about bailing out of work (south Dublin).

Yup, i've just been told its very bad up at Lusk/Rush.

Darwin · 02-12-2010 4:02pm

Wind direction beginning to shift to a north westerly direction on the West coast. It looks like this trend will spread across the country later - this might kill off the shower activity coming from the Irish sea?

tommycahir · 02-12-2010 4:02pm

are we looking at more snow in Carlow? or is the 14 inches that we have here now going to be it?

mrsdewinter · 02-12-2010 4:03pm

LookingFor wrote: »

Been a pause here for the last little while, but looking at the radar, I think we're about to be hit by Weathercheck's streamer.

Nice respite lasted just a few minutes! Fine stuff beginning to come down a little now, but that sky looks full of precipitation...

Eramen · 02-12-2010 4:04pm

Snowing practically non-stop in Clondalkin since mid-morning, though it has eased up in the last 20 mins. There is a large snowman in the front garden and one in the back with plenty of snow to spare!

bernard0368 · 02-12-2010 4:05pm

Going stir crazy and i have only been stuck today and it doesn't look like I am going anywhere in the morning.

9CD8EBDD40ED4A129749727572DC2B16-0000314502-0002061654-00800L-2F2A6E9EC3584DE5890D4F0A50C8226D.jpg

:eek:

Derfil · 02-12-2010 4:05pm

Nice bright sky for the moment. Is there anything left for today?

HellFireClub · 02-12-2010 4:06pm

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Stopped now in Lucan

I think we'll have another large snowfall in about an hour, there is a clearpatch in the sky that a bit of sun is getting through, but that is moving in a southerly direction and moving down from the north seems to be another load of the same type of cloud that caused todays serious snowfall...

W.Shakes-Beer · 02-12-2010 4:07pm

It has been snowing non stop for the last 2 hours here in Artane, building up deep now.

Keep it coming!

Irish Steve · 02-12-2010 4:08pm

MingulayJohnny wrote: »

Does anybody here have any experience of living in another country during snowy conditions?. I was told by a friend who lived in New York and worked on the snowploughs that the snow we are having now would not slow things down anywhere near the extent that it does here. I heard that in Germany people are obliged to have snow tires for these conditions. I think it's amazing how the snow can cause such disruption in this country as aesthetically pleasing as it is.

Spot on. I've close on 30 years of driving in snow conditions, anything up to 300mm, in 2 wheel drive vehicles, and some of them were rear wheel drive with old fashioned cross ply tyres, so nothing like the grip or stability that modern cars have, and there are times when I wish for a tank cannon on the front of my vehicle to remove the g*******s that insist on driving at 20Kph in wet conditions!!!!!!!

Also done significant driving over long distances in Colorado in snow, albeit with studded tyres on a 4 x 4, and there's no comparison.

The problem here is that there's no awareness of how to drive in snow, and no teaching. I saw a classic example this morning on the M2, a Renault Megane was in front of me in a steady stream of traffic that was moving reasonably well, and then the front driver spooked and slowed down as the lane got a bit narrower for a few yards. The megane driver missed the fact, and took his foot off fast, and fishtailed all over the place for a few seconds as he lost grip. That got his attention!

Truth was, there was no problem if correctly handled. OK, mine is 4 x 4, and where possible, I go out in the fresh stuff to try and break it up a bit, and to have more grip. I've been out at all hours of the day and night in recent days, on all road types, and it's not been a problem, and in the right circumstances, 70 Kph is both realistic and safe. That said, at times, 25 Kph is fast enough, it all depends on the size of the road, how straight it is, and are there any ditches or other dangers at the side.

So yes, half the problems are being caused by drivers that really ought not be out in the first place.

Steve

MilanPan!c · 02-12-2010 4:09pm

I just measured... 18cm (aprox) - about 7 inches - since Tuesday midnight in Rathfarnham.

bicardi19 · 02-12-2010 4:09pm

Damn it I want snow....not fair, the one time the sun decides to shine in cavan.

Supercell · 02-12-2010 4:10pm

Streetlights oming on here in D4, total whiteout!

HellFireClub · 02-12-2010 4:10pm

Kicking off again in Lucan...

hawkwing · 02-12-2010 4:10pm

Phoenix Park 1410 today

polyfusion · 02-12-2010 4:11pm

Really good satellite photo from 11:45 this morning:

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/single.php?T103361145

crefl1_143.A2010336114500-2010336115000.2km.jpg

EDIT: For anyone wanting a higher resolution image (250m), you can either go to the link above, and select the resolution on the left, or follow this link; be warned, is about 10MB in size:

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/single.php?2010336/crefl1_143.A2010336114500-2010336115000.250m.jpg

havana · 02-12-2010 4:13pm

hawkwing wrote: »

Phoenix Park 1410 today

Stunning!!

Dotsie~tmp · 02-12-2010 4:13pm

This is what has come down in Finglas since this all started. The bottom 4cm is snow hardened to ice after multiple thaw/freezes. then bout 4cm of graupely stuff, thne snow till 14cm.

Interestingly earlier I noticed exactly how uch alt. ASL matters in the composition of the showers. I was driving to get some grit which took me from 65m to 25m is a fairly short distance. The same shower passed from snow at 65m to graupel at 40m then to hail/wet stuff at 25m. As I drove back the process reversed. I was headed east to coast, all in 2.5km distance.