2nd Anniversary of the winter of 2010

Overflow

Min wrote: »

I was unable to visit my mother in hospital as I live on a hill and it was impassable.

You do not have to look after miles of water piping. I had it going into the main shed for the cows, but the water trough itself where one could not put in insulation as the cows would pull it off, froze at the coldest times.
Pipes under 4 plus inches of concrete froze going to another shed. Needed a sledge hammer to break ice, loads of hot water to try and melt ice in pipes, milking machine froze and even with the best of drainage of water out of the pipes after washing, they still froze. Milking cows so we had milk for our tea, porrige and milk puddings
Hours wasted everyday in freezing temperatures de-icing, you can't insulate milking equipment, when even indoors it was freezing hard.
Washing down the milking parlour, even though it was well indoors was not good as it turned to ice.
The dung from the cows was even freezing to the slats.

Gloves are no good when you are dealing with water, and need your hands and fingers to be flexible and not restrained.
You can only wear thin plastic gloves for milking for example.
I end up wearing the plastic gloves as they are the most practicable, they act like an extra layer of skin but in severe cold, one will be needing warm water nearby.

It is costly too, I had to stop supplying milk as I had no way of getting it delivered, last winter I was able to milk all the way through, so it is not in my interest to be a snow lover. This year snow will be ok from mid December to mid January, then it will be as welcome as the rains we had in June this year.

To be honest everything you mention could have been avoided with proper planning. You just keep listing off all the problems, a more resourceful and proactive person would be finding solutions. Will this happen again, most certainly ! Will you be prepared, probably not.

Fact is farmers in other countries prepare for conditions like this. I live in Norway and i can assure you there are plenty of farmers here, with none of the problems you mention. Of course you can argue that they are used to it in Norway, we get snow every year blah blah. Well the question is, how important is it to you to keep your farm/business running? This will happen again.

You should have done a proper job on your miles of water pipes, did you seriously think we would never, not even once get some freezing temperatures ??

Have you ever heard of a heating cable for water pipes ?

Calibos

I will always remember the 2010 event starting on the evening of 26th of November here in Bray. As far as I remember Bray got the first streamer of the event. Others got theirs in the wee hours and only woke up to snow on the morning if the 27th.

Min

Overflow wrote: »

To be honest everything you mention could have been avoided with proper planning. You just keep listing off all the problems, a more resourceful and proactive person would be finding solutions. Will this happen again, most certainly ! Will you be prepared, probably not.

Fact is farmers in other countries prepare for conditions like this. I live in Norway and i can assure you there are plenty of farmers here, with none of the problems you mention. Of course you can argue that they are used to it in Norway, we get snow every year blah blah. Well the question is, how important is it to you to keep your farm/business running? This will happen again.

You should have done a proper job on your miles of water pipes, did you seriously think we would never, not even once get some freezing temperatures ??

Have you ever heard of a heating cable for water pipes ?

The water kept coming to the main shed with the cows, given they were drinking water all the time, but even then at the coldest, ice was forming indoors at the water trough, you can't insulate everything.
I should have said mile rather than miles, the main pipeline kept the water coming most of the time thanks to the cows, but you cannot insulate everything, cattle will remove anything that is not permanent, putting insulation over a pipe near where they can reach, will not last long and this is where the pipe in the shed froze a few times.
You can't insulate all the pipes in a milking parlour, you can't keep miles of road open when the council won't even do it.

We saw it in the cities and towns where there was water shortages as people kept taps running to stop them freezing. Even one report where these people went away and left the taps running and water was seen coming out a window...
I remember seeing people complaining about ice on footpaths and the councils telling people they would not be sued if they removed the ice and people still fell.
It was bad for retailers as there were less shoppers.
The army were out trying to help people who needed it.

We are talking about temperatures that are not normal for Ireland, you would not be putting in air conditioning to deal with temperatures above 30C or be putting in areas of shade for the livestock - even though the record for Ireland is 33.3C for here in Kilkenny, likewise you would not be going overboard to deal with temperatures below -10C as they are not all that common.

Snow is ok, but live on high ground and you get use to snow, we had a small bit of snow last winter in early December, not much just enough to whiten the hills. When you get snow every winter even in the mild winters, it is a nuisance when it hangs around and you can see no snow lower down.
Like at the end of March 2010, we had a blizzard, snow drifted to over 3 feet, roads blocked, and down in Kilkenny they only had rain, and the distance between the two was a matter of three to four miles.

I don't think really cold weather is something to look forward to, there are people homeless out in it, there are people living in poverty who can't afford the heating, we hear of people skipping meals because they can't afford to buy all the food they need.
I do think as a person interested in meteorology, that yes it is very interesting, but I find looking at my weather station in a dry mild spell, which some would class as bland to be just as interesting - watching the land dry out, grass growing and so on.
Too much wet weather is not good for anyone, people who get their homes and businesses flooded, or on the farm where the land becomes too wet for everything.
The fact is you cannot prepare for all weather events, you can do some within reason but extremes of weather can be costly and one can choose to look at them with rose tinted glasses or what is the reality - extremes in weather can be a real pain in the behind...especially if you slip on ice :pac:

snowstreams

Calibos wrote: »

I will always remember the 2010 event starting on the evening of 26th of November here in Bray. As far as I remember Bray got the first streamer of the event. Others got theirs in the wee hours and only woke up to snow on the morning if the 27th.

It was definitly the 26th alright. I got a blast of snow in galway. Then drove across to dublin. And the streamser started a few hours after I arrived in dublin. I'll never forget the blue lightning strikes.

Deep Easterly

Calibos wrote: »

As far as I remember Bray got the first streamer of the event. Others got theirs in the wee hours and only woke up to snow on the morning if the 27th.

It started snowing here in the west from mid afternoon of the 26th so we got the streamers first.

so there! :pac:

IrishHomer

stevenf17 wrote: »

We were on a farm quad

Eh whats the difference between a farm quad and a regular quad?

davidsr20

This time 2 years ago

Calibos

davidsr20 wrote: »

This time 2 years ago

The Earths axis had flipped 90º !!!???!!!???? :eek:

[Edit] Silly me. Of course the earths axis didn't tilt over 90º. You were living on the equator!

Tactical

Min wrote: »

The water kept coming to the main shed with the cows, given they were drinking water all the time, but even then at the coldest, ice was forming indoors at the water trough, you can't insulate everything.

I should have said mile rather than miles, the main pipeline kept the water coming most of the time thanks to the cows, but you cannot insulate everything,

You can't insulate all the pipes in a milking parlour

A small recirculating pump will help prevent ice forming in a trough.

Pipes can be insulated or heating tape / wire applied internally or externally..

A quick 20 second google.ie search came up with the following (I've no affilliation to the companies nor am I recomending their services orm products) company who provide solutions to some of the issues you describe.

http://www.electricirelandstore.ie/Product/Raychem-trace-heating-cable-to-protect-against-cold-water-pipes-freezing/1290/606

http://www.jackfrost.ie/products.html

http://www.thermatek.ie/index-3.html

The Farmers Journal have an article on some of the issues you experienced http://www.farmersjournal.ie/site/farming-Choice-of-frost-insulation-equipment-on-the-market-12541.html

There are various heating tape / wire products available and a few minutes search should yield plenty of material for research which could result in you saving hours of labour regarding freezing conditions for your water and milking equipment!

vibe666

a very cheap and simple solution to the impassable roads problem would be for the government to subsidise the purchase of snow plow and gritter attachments for tractors and 4x4's for farmers and then have a set area that they'd be responsible for and pay them a fee for every mile of road they clear whenever the snow gets bad.

the farmers get to keep all the roads they need clear to do their job and also perform a public service and the government gets all the country roads cleared on the cheap that would otherwise be impassable. everybody wins.

Deep Easterly

Satellite image from this day 2 years ago showing showers moving in over north and east with snow lying over many parts.


From sat24.com

Min temp fell to -10.8c at Mullingar later that evening with -10.4c at Casement.

The 2nd Dec 2010 was the coldest day of 'phase 1' of that late 2010 cold spell but colder was to come in Phase 2 which started in mid-December.

Calibos

Thats just rubbing salt in the wounds I still feel from 2010. How is it that with only 1/3 of the open water between the NI coast and Scotland there are streamers and yet 3 times that amount between Bray and the IOM yields a great big snow shadow?

ZX7R

I got married in November 2010 , we didn't have money for a honeymoon but then the snow came we were snowed in for nearly two weeks during the first snow event ,long walks in the snow together lying beside the open fire snuggled up together very romantic better than any foreign honeymoon.also a great first Christmas as a married couple more snow:D

nacho libre

I'M resigned to the fact, that it's highly unlikely i'll ever see such a epic event again. I recall m.t. cranium telling people to watch how the temperature would drop dramatically in the first hour of that cold spell. it was just amazing to see how quickly the snow began to accumulate on the very wet ground that evening. by 11 pm that night i was outside giddy with excitement, as everywhere was white, and the snow by that stage was fairly heavy. what i wouldn't give to experience something like that again at home.

q2ice

vibe666 wrote: »

a very cheap and simple solution to the impassable roads problem would be for the government to subsidise the purchase of snow plow and gritter attachments for tractors and 4x4's for farmers and then have a set area that they'd be responsible for and pay them a fee for every mile of road they clear whenever the snow gets bad.

the farmers get to keep all the roads they need clear to do their job and also perform a public service and the government gets all the country roads cleared on the cheap that would otherwise be impassable. everybody wins.

Problem is that this idea is way too sensible and sound for the government to actually implement it.

Gaynna

vibe666 wrote: »

a very cheap and simple solution to the impassable roads problem would be for the government to subsidise the purchase of snow plow and gritter attachments for tractors and 4x4's for farmers and then have a set area that they'd be responsible for and pay them a fee for every mile of road they clear whenever the snow gets bad.

the farmers get to keep all the roads they need clear to do their job and also perform a public service and the government gets all the country roads cleared on the cheap that would otherwise be impassable. everybody wins.

Who supplies the farmers the grit and where do they store it? Do they have to import grit every year and does grit lose its thawing effect over time? Some years we get no snow whatsoever, like 2011. I'm just wondering does grit go off after a few months/years?

Gaynna

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Satellite image from this day 2 years ago showing showers moving in over north and east with snow lying over many parts.


From sat24.com

Min temp fell to -10.8c at Mullingar later that evening with -10.4c at Casement.

The 2nd Dec 2010 was the coldest day of 'phase 1' of that late 2010 cold spell but colder was to come in Phase 2 which started in mid-December.

Look at the way the Isle of Man prevents the cold wind from picking up moisture on the warm Irish sea; there's a clear path from the island to the east coast of Ireland.

Thankfully that didn't stop a lovely 11 inches of snow from falling where I live that epic Winter; though, I'm pretty sure it has sure it has ruined a few potential snowdays which I was a kid. I say we dig it up and use the soil to make the Wicklow Mountains higher so we can have a ski resort!

runawaybishop

vibe666 wrote: »

a very cheap and simple solution to the impassable roads problem would be for the government to subsidise the purchase of snow plow and gritter attachments for tractors and 4x4's for farmers and then have a set area that they'd be responsible for and pay them a fee for every mile of road they clear whenever the snow gets bad.

the farmers get to keep all the roads they need clear to do their job and also perform a public service and the government gets all the country roads cleared on the cheap that would otherwise be impassable. everybody wins.

This is neither cheap nor simple really.

Min

runawaybishop wrote: »

This is neither cheap nor simple really.

...and it also presumes farmers are not busy.

Thargor

Gaynna wrote: »

Who supplies the farmers the grit and where do they store it? Do they have to import grit every year and does grit lose its thawing effect over time? Some years we get no snow whatsoever, like 2011. I'm just wondering does grit go off after a few months/years?

I think the half-life of grit is probably measured in millions of years

citytillidie

1st snow fall for me in 2010 was the 30th October but then again i was living in Montréal at the time

Tactical

Min wrote: »

...and it also presumes farmers are not busy.

Yes, it would be an awful shame if you were able to make it to the creamery lorry with the milk..... :rolleyes:

cellosid

secman wrote: »

It was 2 years ago today, Sun 28/11/2010 that we woke to the lovely snow which then lasted almost to Stephens Day 26/12/10 until the thaw set in. Most severe sustained weather i have ever expereinced in Ireland.

I am sure the "snowies" have very fond memories of that 4 week period.

i recall someone putting together a brialliant video to music, then there was the funny clip on the news of the guy walking around a corner doing a brilliant Bambi impression !

Secman

I recall it vividly....... it was so cold, I couldn't feel the Radio Transmitter controls at times. :eek: