National: Severe Cold/ Snow Discussion (Thanks to all!)

Rougies

Thanks for the insight M.T! I'm sick of hearing people complaining about our inablility to cope with severe snow/ice etc. I'll point them to your post in future and tell them even places in Canada can't cope sometimes!

Although I think people are generally copping on as to why we struggle in these conditions and they are seeing the same scenarios across much of Europe at the moment which helps them understand

delw

another shower en route to malahide by the looks of the radar,only a small one

Kev_tag

Any parts of Dublin getting any snow?

thetonynator

jo06555 wrote: »

Thats what im thinking too.



Ye i see that but cant make sense of how its headin in south east looks at best to be clipping coast i may be wrong as i dont know..

this is the first i've heard of this, haven't been following the short term forecast today, but what are ME saying? Have being on mobile :mad:

LostChild

devilabit wrote: »

Yeah i lived in Montreal for a few years and it always had plently of snow, actually its the snowiest city with over 1 million people in the world and colder than Moscow in winter even though its almost at the the same latitude as Nice in France. However Montreal's record (383cm) is about the average in Quebec city, you might have a snow depth of 50 or more cm in Montreal but you get to Quebec city and its a total different story. Average max in Montreal in winter is -5C in Jan and min is -12C so about the same as the coldest we have here now. There were days walking into work when it was -30C with a wind chill close to -50C. Anyways what im trying to say is that I agree!

Now that is cold! Thank god we'll never get weather like that, unless this is the beginning of a new ice age. If that's the case, Ireland is screwed....... Imagine all the snow haters on the forum if we got weather like that?!!

patneve2

Kev_tag wrote: »

Any parts of Dublin getting any snow?

frequent showers of soft hail and snow in dalkey, not as heavy as this afternoon though and not amounting to much. I'd say a little under two inches has fallen since this afternoon.

jo06555

thetonynator wrote: »

this is the first i've heard of this, haven't been following the short term forecast today, but what are ME saying? Have being on mobile :mad:

MET eireann are saying east munster and leinster to receive 3-5 cm but they also said that last night i cannot see where its to come from unless that cloud out past wex turns in and back up under waterford/wex

micks

wasn't there something a few years back that post 82 many snowploughs were acquired but then were scraped 15 yrs without being used as they were not required?

DWCommuter

Rougies wrote: »

Thanks for the insight M.T! I'm sick of hearing people complaining about our inablility to cope with severe snow/ice etc. I'll point them to your post in future and tell them even Canada can't cope sometimes!

Although I think people are generally copping on as to why we struggle in these conditions and they are seeing the same scenarios across much of Europe at the moment which helps them understand

Ahem...have you been to Canada in the winter? Their snow and ice is far worse that what we have now. Have you been to Germany this week? Ireland has got off lightly in terms of snowfall and we consistently fail to deal with moderate snowfall year after year. There is no comparison between Ireland and countries that regularly receive massive snowfall (Canada) or countries that are prone to the risk of seriously heavy snowfall (Germany).

Ireland and Snow = delirious snow loving natives/failure to deal with it at the most basic level. This snow is a joke. Ive seen real snow. 1982 was rough and more on a par with Canada and eastern Europe. Thats the kind of snow that justifiably causes problems. What we have now is chicken feed and we can't handle it so yes I have a right to be critical. My home county had no grit last night or today (Kildare), but when the last thaw happened they were out gritting like mad on roads that could do without it.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

A dusting coming down now alright.

delw wrote: »

another shower en route to malahide by the looks of the radar,only a small one

delw

light snow blowing around here,nice big flakes

DWCommuter

micks wrote: »

wasn't there something a few years back that post 82 many snowploughs were acquired but then were scraped 15 yrs without being used as they were not required?

After '82 the Government did the usual report after report and then bought actual snowploughs more suited to the rockies. They weren't dual purpose and were totally unsuited to Ireland. We have more decent dual purpose snowploughs now, but the failure lies with the fact that we don't have enough of them, don't have enough grit supplies and no decent plan to deal with the conditions, which are mickey mouse in comparison to other countries.

ardmacha

wasn't there something a few years back that post 82 many snowploughs were acquired but then were scraped 15 yrs without being used as they were not required?

I think the US donated a few snow blowers which were indeed never used. Snow ploughs would be less specialised.

MET eireann are saying east munster and leinster to receive 3-5 cm

They seem to envisage streamers. Before 2010 who would have thought that Dublin is the big target for Irish sea snow!!

ardmacha

We have more decent dual purpose snowploughs now, but the failure lies with the fact that we don't have enough of them, don't have enough grit supplies and no decent plan to deal with the conditions,

There is a good deal of plant nowadays in Ireland, when you count stuff left over from the biggest construction boom in history, giant tractors etc. There is no plan though to organise this.

CiaraBohs

DWCommuter wrote: »

Ahem...have you been to Canada in the winter? Their snow and ice is far worse that what we have now. Have you been to Germany this week? Ireland has got off lightly in terms of snowfall and we consistently fail to deal with moderate snowfall year after year. There is no comparison between Ireland and countries that regularly receive massive snowfall (Canada) or countries that are prone to the risk of seriously heavy snowfall (Germany).

Ireland and Snow = delirious snow loving natives/failure to deal with it at the most basic level. This snow is a joke. Ive seen real snow. 1982 was rough and more on a par with Canada and eastern Europe. Thats the kind of snow that justifiably causes problems. What we have now is chicken feed and we can't handle it so yes I have a right to be critical. My home county had no grit last night or today (Kildare), but when the last thaw happened they were out gritting like mad on roads that could do without it.

Question: when was the last time snow has been seen in ireland like this

certainly not in my lifetime anyway which means its clearly not regular.... people keep refaring to the last lot of snow as last year ... bare in mind that it was actually THIS january that it happened .... so for a country that hasn't had snow like this in i dont know how many years to be coping as well as we are i think is amazing as i have been to sweden and seen their snow clearing measures and they're amazing and they expect this weather .... even sweden are struggling

aboyro

it's still not snowing in waterford......................the bastards!!!!:(

jimmy.d

DWCommuter wrote: »

Ahem...have you been to Canada in the winter? Their snow and ice is far worse that what we have now. Have you been to Germany this week? Ireland has got off lightly in terms of snowfall and we consistently fail to deal with moderate snowfall year after year. There is no comparison between Ireland and countries that regularly receive massive snowfall (Canada) or countries that are prone to the risk of seriously heavy snowfall (Germany).

Ireland and Snow = delirious snow loving natives/failure to deal with it at the most basic level. This snow is a joke. Ive seen real snow. 1982 was rough and more on a par with Canada and eastern Europe. Thats the kind of snow that justifiably causes problems. What we have now is chicken feed and we can't handle it so yes I have a right to be critical. My home county had no grit last night or today (Kildare), but when the last thaw happened they were out gritting like mad on roads that could do without it.

i remember in 82 me and my bro had to get out the window to clear the snow from the front door it was up to the window sill if i was to stand at that window sill today it would be up to chest:D

Kev_tag

I'm too young to remember the 82 snow, but I believe that there was less snow than now. The problem was it drifted with the associated wind and accumulated against objects.

fizzycyst

DWCommuter wrote: »

After '82 the Government did the usual report after report and then bought actual snowploughs more suited to the rockies. They weren't dual purpose and were totally unsuited to Ireland. We have more decent dual purpose snowploughs now, but the failure lies with the fact that we don't have enough of them, don't have enough grit supplies and no decent plan to deal with the conditions, which are mickey mouse in comparison to other countries.

but I think the point being made is that we don't have enough severe winters to justify investing in a huge number of snow ploughs and the like. Yes the grit situation was a bit off, but in fairness, our Decembers are usually a lot milder than the present one so it wasn't anticipated that all the grit would be used by now. I do understand people being angry for many reasons but if we went and bought a load of snow ploughs for next year we would probably just get the usual mild fronts coming in from the west with no need for them.

ploki90

whats the story with traffic round dublin?? i have to drive to the big smoke from cavan tomorrow to collect my girlfriend and bring her home Xmas eve. im quite worried about all the reports iv been reading on traffic and weather. could any of you guys put my mind at rest and tell me its all guna be grand.
or am i in for a rough journey????

srocliffe

It's been a frustrating night here. Wave after wave have come and gone and all just missing me.

I think I need a NE or even ENE wind, this NNE wind doesn't seem to work for my location.

rc28

Kev_tag wrote: »

I'm too young to remember the 82 snow, but I believe that there was less snow than now. The problem was it drifted with the associated wind and accumulated against objects.

No, as I said in the weather pictures thread there is absolutely no way this is a worse event than 82. Yes I know drifts were the biggest problem, but outside of that there was still multiple feet of snow. It mainly affected Dublin, Meath and Kildare - wasn't too bad further south or west than those counties

Wibbles19

srocliffe wrote: »

It's been a frustrating night here. Wave after wave have come and gone and all just missing me.

I think I need a NE or even ENE wind, this NNE wind doesn't seem to work for my location.

Just let the dogs out for a whizz here in Rahen
y, biggest flakes I've seen all day.

jimmy.d

Kev_tag wrote: »

I'm too young to remember the 82 snow, but I believe that there was less snow than now. The problem was it drifted with the associated wind and accumulated against objects.

well you would not be able build tunnels what we got this year unless ya went up to sally gap

th3 s1aught3r

Kev_tag wrote: »

I'm too young to remember the 82 snow, but I believe that there was less snow than now. The problem was it drifted with the associated wind and accumulated against objects.

1982, It was more of a snow blizzard and resulted in drifting. I still think that more snow fell in 1982, where I live anyway, kildare/wicklow border, drifts were huge
I have seen photos of 1947 and that looked horrendous, snow higher than ditches. So this winter has not been up to that level, but its still only December folks :pac:

steveLFC24

ardmacha wrote: »

There is a good deal of plant nowadays in Ireland, when you count stuff left over from the biggest construction boom in history, giant tractors etc. There is no plan though to organise this.

Hopefully this has been a wake up call and the kick in arse needed for them to get some kind of plan/protocol in place for when this happens again.

srocliffe

Kev_tag wrote: »

I'm too young to remember the 82 snow, but I believe that there was less snow than now. The problem was it drifted with the associated wind and accumulated against objects.

Drifting was certainly a problem with the 1982 snow, but believe me there was a lot more snow than now. It basically was 2 solid days at least of continuous very heavy snow.

Nothing I've experienced since has come close.

Rougies

DWCommuter wrote: »

Ahem...have you been to Canada in the winter? Their snow and ice is far worse that what we have now. Have you been to Germany this week? Ireland has got off lightly in terms of snowfall and we consistently fail to deal with moderate snowfall year after year. There is no comparison between Ireland and countries that regularly receive massive snowfall (Canada) or countries that are prone to the risk of seriously heavy snowfall (Germany).

Ireland and Snow = delirious snow loving natives/failure to deal with it at the most basic level. This snow is a joke. Ive seen real snow. 1982 was rough and more on a par with Canada and eastern Europe. Thats the kind of snow that justifiably causes problems. What we have now is chicken feed and we can't handle it so yes I have a right to be critical. My home county had no grit last night or today (Kildare), but when the last thaw happened they were out gritting like mad on roads that could do without it.

Exactly. You missed my point completely.

Kev_tag

Sounds incredible, I can't imagine the carnage it must have caused.

miseagustusa

Kev_tag wrote: »

I'm too young to remember the 82 snow, but I believe that there was less snow than now. The problem was it drifted with the associated wind and accumulated against objects.

Your source is totally wrong:eek: 82 and 87 were much worse than this.....i'm still living in the same house as i did back then and i can say this snow is pittance compared to it......e.g we have a 4' wall around our front garden, this snow didnt come half way up it, in 82 der mounded way above the wall, we had to get out of the window and clear a path from door to gate (using our bare hands mostly:))


And we wernt the worst hit county in that snow :O