Oct 17 Dublin tornado

expectationlost

didn't hear about at the time, anyone elses notice it confirmed it moved Crumlin towards the Phoenix Park on oct 17th around 6am, knocked over a few trees

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/-and-residents-avoided-a-tornado-last-month-212713.html


frank mcnally did http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/1018/1224325412949.html and this guy has an album of downed trees
https://twitter.com/ciaran_walsh/status/258559677535756288


http://www.meteotimes.net/2012/11/met-eireann-confirms-dublin-tornado.html

Rebelbrowser

I didn't hear of that either. Given it happened in Dublin its amazing it didn't get more publicity. Perhaps if it had been nearer Donnybrook!

From De Paper this morning......

"… People living in a swathe of south Dublin may have had a lucky escape after Met Éireann confirmed a tornado tore through an area of at least a mile last month.

So strong was the tornado that John Tyrrell, a tornado expert studying the impact of the event that took place at 6am on Oct 17 last, said people’s lives could have been at risk if it occurred at a different time of the day.

Large trees were uprooted and metal sheets torn off garden roofs as the tornado travelled in a northerly direction from Crumlin past Inchicore, Kilmainham and near the South Circular Rd before dissipating in a section of the Phoenix Park.

Dr Tyrrell of UCC’s geography department said if it had taken place at a different stage of the day, lives could have been at risk.

"The winds were in excess of in the order of 85mph to 90mph. So you had sustained winds within the rotating vortex at that sort of speed, carrying debris, you have projectiles whizzing around at those speeds — you are in a very dangerous environment. If people are around, unless they take cover, it’s a very dangerous situation."

It appears no one saw the tornado, although some people say they heard it".

highdef

Wow, don't know how I missed that one!!! I mentioned it to one of my colleagues and he distinctively remembers a lot of debris (large fallen branches, some trees and general debris) that morning when he was exiting the Phoenix Park at Islandbridge. This ties in perfectly with the map showing the tornado track. Scary stuff indeed and had it been an hour or two later, I reckon it would most definitely been a headliner, probably for all the wrong reasons! :eek:

Iancar29

I know , very surprised myself about this. Dont recall anyone mentioning about it . Pity i could only find those low res radar images of the morning. I still think it would have been prior 6am according to the scans i did find.

antodeco

I remember a few weeks ago the wind was excessively strong as I was getting up for work (around 6/6:30am). I wonder was this it? I only live 5 minutes from where this passed it seems.

g0g

Ahem....

Old news! Think it went right by my bedroom window. Looked out just after it past and thought I saw raining blowing sideways but that's it. The noise was like nothing I heard before.

Harps

No harm in contacting John Tyrell about it, says there were no witnesses so some sort of account will probably be welcome

sunset

Just a brief word of explanation to help answer some of the questions being posed here. One of the beginnings of the trail of evidence for the tornado began here in the boards community. On 17th October most of the attention in the convective thread was on the threat posed by advancing heavy precipitation and the possibility of further flooding problems. Then g0g posted at 7.56 followed by cherryghost at 7.59. Then postings in that thread went immediately to the flooding threat elsewhere in the country. Those 2 postings, however, rang sufficient alarm bells to initiate intensive enquiries throughout South Dublin, helped by a report to Met Eireann an hour or so later. The rest is history. There were no eyewitnesses to the vortex because it was before dawn, but many other people experienced the tornado in other ways. Enquiries are continuing and if anyone finds further details I would be really glad to add them to what has already been assembled, on which the published map is based.

Sponge Bob

It trashed the Garden of Remembrance and was raised by posters in here at the time.

M.T. Cranium

I remember the radar because I was working on the forecast around that time, it was the day with the east-west band of heavy rainfall moving north past Dublin towards north Leinster and Ulster. It sounds like an F0-1 scale tornado, these often don't leave much of a radar signature, but the radar looked fairly active for that time of day.

gozunda

From the Met Web Site

http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=180

Tornado in southwest Dublin area in the early hours of October 17th

01 November 2012
A tornado has been confirmed in southwest Dublin area in the early hours of October 17th. At approximately 6am, a tornado travelling in a south-north direction, travelled a mile or more from the Crumlin area towards the Phoenix Park. It caused damage in the order of trees uprooted and damage to local homes. Currently Met Éireann is consulting with tornado research scientist John Tyrrell about this event. Further information will be available in the future after data analysis and a full investigation have taken place.

dfx-

Rebelbrowser wrote: »

It appears no one saw the tornado, although some people say they heard it".

Would it have been visible had it been in daylight..

I'd be surprised at the damage, there's a fair few people around for that time of the morning. Red Luas would be pretty well loaded (going since 5am) and I've been on early 27s going down the Crumlin Rd at that time (first 27 from Tallaght would be around there at 6am)