Windstorm

nacho libre

Anyone here remember the windstorm we had in January 1991? This storm stands out because of the length of time it lasted. There was gale force winds across a lot of the country for roughly 8- 10 hours. I remember at one stage(after about about three four hours) the winds eased a bit for about 20 minutes then picked up again and continued unabated for another 2- 3 hours. It was remarkable really. While we've had storms, where stronger gusts were recorded, due to the duration of this particular storm there was a fair bit of damage by the end of it.

Su Campu

I don't remember that one in particular but I'm sure Deep Easterly will no doubt have all the info you're looking for!

Lumi

nacho libre wrote: »

Anyone here remember the windstorm we had in January 1991? This storm stands out because of the length of time it lasted. There was gale force winds across a lot of the country for roughly 8- 10 hours. I remember at one stage(after about about three four hours) the winds eased a bit for about 20 minutes then picked up again and continued unabated for another 2- 3 hours. It was remarkable really. While we've had storms, where stronger gusts were recorded, due to the duration of this particular storm there was a fair bit of damage by the end of it.

It was January 5th 1991. I remember the terrible loss of life in Co. Galway where nine people were killed. Our wall was blown down and we were without power for two days afterwards but this extract from the local paper certainly puts these minor issues into perspective


A REAL STORM


Seven people died when a large tree fell on their minibus outside Portumna, Co.Galway, at around 6:00pm on Saturday evening. Those who died were six Swiss tourists and a Tipperary youth. A local man escaped from the vehicle with minor injuries. A doctor, who lives 50 yards from where the accident occurred, said that the others died instantly. The tourists, two married couples and two men, all thought to be in their thirties, were here on a shooting holiday. They were joined for the day by a man from Carrigahorig, Co.Tipperary and a guide from Portumna. That was by far the worst incident caused by Saturday's storm but another seven people also lost their lives.


Gale force winds and heavy rain have swept the country for much of the time since Christmas but these were minor in comparison to the weather we experienced on Saturday. It was clear from early Friday that we were in for something special. The forecasters were given extra time on television and radio news bulletins to explain just how bad it would be. They promised "strong storm force" winds with gusts of 100mph and up to one inch of rain.
The wind started to rise sometime in the middle of the night and we woke to radio news telling us that two men had died in Galway. They were asleep in a van parked in Lower Merchants Road when a wall was blown on to the van. Three other people in the van escaped although one received minor injuries. Later we heard that the wind fanned a chimney fire in Ballingarry, Co.Limerick, and the flames spread throughout the bungalow. A man died in the blaze and his sister was critically injured. At Ballybrack, Co.Dublin, a man was killed when a tree fell on his car. A falling tree also killed a farmer while he was tending cattle on his farm near Newry. In Rathcormack, Co.Waterford, a man was electrocuted by a fallen cable on his brother's farm. On Sunday morning the body of a man was found under a tree in Coolock, Co.Dublin.


The high winds brought problems right around the country. About 40,000 homes were without electricity. The northwest suffered most in this regard but most parts of the country had their share of problems. Fallen trees blocked many roads as well as the main Sligo-Dublin railway line near Boyle. Ferry services between here and Britain were severely disrupted. The sea blocked the main Galway-Limerick road at Oranmore during the high tide on Saturday morning. One news report said that no flights flew into or out of Knock or Sligo airports, but I doubt if Waterford, Kerry, Galway, Carrickfin or Eglinton fared any better. Some flights into and out of the country's main airports were also affected. The owner of Renvyle House Hotel was on RTE radio describing his premises as having been devastated. The seas at Ballyvaughan were described as the worst in living memory and a house was virtually washed away on Achill Island.



The Met. Office described this as the worst storm since February, 1988. The strongest wind speed, 95mph, was recorded at Belmullet but gusts of more than 80mph were common. The storm finally abated at about 11:00pm on Saturday and we woke up to a bright, cold, calm day on Sunday.

EDIT: I've taken out the names of the people who were killed and injured - it just didn't seem right to include them

M.T. Cranium

I had a look at the archived weather maps on wetterzentrale and found the storm. I believe the storm damage reported (on a Saturday) occurred late on 5 January 1991 as the low was shown west of Galway at 00z on that date and near Prestwick Scotland at 00z on Sunday 6th. Presumably the newspaper was published on a Monday 7th of January.

The low appears to have tracked through Donegal Bay around 15z and was shown at 960 mbs on the midnight chart.

I guess it was basically a stronger version of the two windstorms we have seen in November and then May of the past year. It followed a similar path and must have been somewhat strengthened by the warm SST anomalies in place during those years (Jan 1990 also had a major windstorm later in the month).

They don't mention it in the article but the dates are similar to those of the Big Wind of 1839.

Lumi

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

I believe the storm damage reported (on a Saturday) occurred late on 5 January 1991

It was the 5th alright - had the 7th on the brain because its a family anniversary

I can still remember the noise of the wind during that storm - it was truly fearsome!

Actually, Met Eireann have a good account of it here under Exceptional Weather Events

nacho libre

Yes, Fionagus, the winds were the fiercest I've ever heard.
Three of my father's cattle died that day. Also by the end of it four trees were whipped- something that hasn't been repeated since. If you count the number of years between major storms since 1976, we are probably overdue a big storm at this stage. Although with the ongoing low solar activity, perhaps the odds of a major storm happening in the immediate future are slight.

By the way thanks for posting up that article.

Harps

The last big storm I remember was in 1998 on the 26th of December, I lived on an island and we were cut off for more than 3 days with no electricity or fresh supplies. Gust of 110mph recorded at Malin which is 3mph off the strongest ever recorded

http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/weather-events/Dec1998_Storm.PDF