Cold Spell Discussion (Ireland): Cold/Frosty/Icy with Snow for some

Donny5

Evil_g wrote: »

Is rambling around the Wicklow Mountains in heavy snow a good idea?

Hmm, I spend a lot of time in the Wicklow Mountains, and in other mountains, and in snow. I think that during periods of snow, the Wicklow Mountains are more hospitable and less dangerous than during regular cold and wet weather. It's much easier to get hypothermia (in my experience) from wet conditions with positive temperatures than in the colder but normally drier conditions during snowfall. Sleet, however, is a real killer.

However, during icy or snowy conditions, the roads in Wicklow, even those well traveled, are very dangerous, and the Sally Gap in particular. The parking field spoken about earlier in this thread is often unreachable by ordinary cars during light snow and even experienced 4x4'ers during heavy snow.

Of course, people manage to get in trouble on the mountains on even the best summer days, and the usual caveats apply. If you don't have the gear, don't go. Tell someone where you're going (exactly) and what to do if you don't come back at a given time. Don't go anywhere that you aren't confident navigating out of in zero visibility, because that's what you'll often get. Don't trust the weather or weather forecasts, because local weather conditions can change incredibly quickly in even our short mountains. Don't rely on being rescued as your safety net, because you won't always have coverage to call for it, and on the mountains, you can readily die before the MRTs are even mobilised for the search.

Rougies

MT has spoken in the ramping thread.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82738845&postcount=107

maquiladora

Interesting post by the data man on netweather Weather-history. A few people here have mentioned about the cold air pushing from the west.

Amazing charts, you have a battle between two, in effect almost two Arctic continental airmasses! One coming from Europe and that low dragging intensely cold air off the North American continent into the Atlantic and right into Ireland, granted modified by the Atlantic somewhat but still incredible.

SnowDrifts

Donny5 wrote: »

The parking field spoken about earlier in this thread is often unreachable by ordinary cars during light snow and even experienced 4x4'ers during heavy snow.

That's why I said depending on the snowline. You can park further down the hill if there is heavy snow on the road and still have a short walk to epic snow.

Mr Cumulonimbus

maquiladora wrote: »

A pretty poor GFS for prospects of a sustained, more cold spell. Sad to see things aren't going to way of yesterday's ECM & GEM. Hopefully its wrong.

Maq, what do you think of the +30 and +36 uppers charts on the UKMO? A possible rain to snow transition sometime later tomorrow and into Saturday morning for the north of the country rather than earlier Friday if it turns out to be right?

maquiladora

Mr Cumulonimbus wrote: »

Maq, what do you think of the +30 and +36 uppers charts on the UKMO? A possible rain to snow transition sometime later tomorrow and into Saturday morning for the north of the country rather than earlier Friday if it turns out to be right?

I wouldn't bother with the UKMO within 48 hours, use the NAE instead.

Birdnuts

maquiladora wrote: »

Interesting post by the data man on netweather Weather-history. A few people here have mentioned about the cold air pushing from the west.

I've noticed that myself over the last few days - never seen such low thicknesses making it that far across the Atlantic before

BEASTERLY

compsys wrote: »

Really? Are we looking at the same charts? +126, +132 and +138 has -6 uppers pushing West again and skirting the North and East.

They were -8 on the last run. Anyway, I mean that the lead up to the breakdown begins after 120.

fontenoy7

The thing that always gets me about the wickow mountains is how so many snow savvy people get caught up there...lithuanians, Estonians, Polish...unreal.

What frightens me about them sometimes is the actual depth of the snow and the short space of time in which it falls. Even coming back through sallygap in April 2010 there was snow there.

You could easily operate weather permitting or on/off skiing there (Monbane, lugnaquilla (very easily at 939 metres) etc but it would ruin the place as like in Glenshee in Scotland, which was a mudbath with so snow cover until very recently by the way, people litter the place constantly. You would have to install snow canons though to operate at night when the temperature drops below freezing to maintain a covering of arificial snow. I was in Westendorf in AUSTRIA TEN YEARS AGO - fabulous place but low altitude. We had three days of rain in a row which was very unusual but it was cold enough at night to action the snow canons and it saved the day.

dacogawa

The BBC weather has covered the east coast & north in snow starting from late tonight! I hope they are right & M.T. too!

maquiladora

Birdnuts wrote: »

I've noticed that myself over the last few days - never seen such low thicknesses making it that far across the Atlantic before

Birdnuts

Thats amazing!!

Mr Benevolent

Calibos wrote: »

Would you like that coffin in Teak or Mahogonay Sir?

Neither. Ice please.

Musicman2000

Yes very rare to see such a setup, by the way thoese calling for a break down be extremely careful the GFS dosent look right. I would call FI to be at 72 hours. Maybe the GFS has picked up a new trend. Interesting ECM 12z to come.

yorlum11

maquiladora wrote: »

Interesting post by the data man on netweather Weather-history. A few people here have mentioned about the cold air pushing from the west.

What parts of Ireland would benefit from this chart if it materialises Maq?

maquiladora

yorlum11 wrote: »

What parts of Ireland would benefit from this chart if it materialises Maq?

It's a bonus to western areas chances of precip to fall as snow but all areas benefit from it to a degree.

stooge

For those of us not in the east, it might be exciting to watch online to see the snow starting and which areas are getting it first. How about posting links to online webcams etc?

Here's a couple:

Dublin
http://www.dublincity.ie/dublintraffic/

Belfast:
http://trafficwatchni.com/cameras

dacogawa

There's quite a difference between the UKMO & GFS for 7pm tomorrow, who likes the look of the UKMO ? Maq any opinion on this please ?

maquiladora

I'll take the UKMO please.

Edit : Anything within 48 hours, I'd stick with the NAE.

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-bin/expertcharts?LANG=en&MENU=0000000000&CONT=ukuk&MODELL=nae&MODELLTYP=1&VAR=pslv&HH=0&BASE=-&WMO=&ZOOM=0

Deank

maquiladora wrote: »

I'll take the UKMO please.

Nice merge of the 2 fronts on the UKMO, if that comes off what could we expect.

BEASTERLY

maquiladora wrote: »

I'll take the UKMO please.

Edit : Anything within 48 hours, I'd stick with the NAE.

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-bin/expertcharts?LANG=en&MENU=0000000000&CONT=ukuk&MODELL=nae&MODELLTYP=1&VAR=pslv&HH=0&BASE=-&WMO=&ZOOM=0

What about the HIRLAM maq? Would you trust the NAE more?

maquiladora

BEASTERLY wrote: »

What about the HIRLAM maq? Would you trust the NAE more?

Haven't really checked HIRLAM much since it was dropped from Meteociel/Expertcharts.

BEASTERLY

maquiladora wrote: »

Haven't really checked HIRLAM much since it was dropped from Meteociel/Expertcharts.

It's here: http://www.emhi.ee/index.php?ide=19,394,416,417

Dont think it looks quite as good as the NAE for tomorrow.

Oscar Bravo

From Met.ie....Issued at 17 January 2013 - 16:15
Rainfall Warning
Many parts of the country will have rainfall accumulations of 25 to 40mm tonight and for a time Friday.
Strong southeasterly winds will occur with the rain overnight. Ulster and northern counties of Connacht and Leinster will see rain turning to sleet and snow early on Friday morning giving some deposits on higher ground.
Valid until 18:00 hours Friday 18/1/2013

Spindle

maquiladora wrote: »

Interesting post by the data man on netweather Weather-history. A few people here have mentioned about the cold air pushing from the west.

Looks to me the Arctic is trying to relocate itself

maquiladora

BEASTERLY wrote: »

It's here: http://www.emhi.ee/index.php?ide=19,394,416,417

Dont think it looks quite as good as the NAE for tomorrow.

Maybe not quite as good but I'd like to compare them on a chart the same scale as NAE with the same graphics.

For example, look at NAE here. -5 uppers pushed down a bit south of Ulster.
But you'd never think there was -9, -10 uppers in N.I. until you zoomed in.

ZX7R

Sioman kellings latest snow cover charts ,shows 3-10cm for north of ireland and most of eastren ireland also

maquiladora

ZX7R wrote: »

Sioman kellings latest snow cover charts ,shows 3-10cm for north of ireland and most of eastren ireland also

The snow turning back to rain in the east could be a problem for any accumulations, apart from on higher ground.

zidewayz

Slashermcguirk wrote: »

Why does that not surprise me, Wicklow mountains are just unreal for snow. Might go up there and take some photos at the weekend if it's even accessible!!! They are like the scottish highlands when it comes to snow. Ski resort potential :-)))

I would love to agree with you but I would find it hard to compare the Wicklow mountains (Max 925 metres asl) to the scottish Highlands ( Max 1,344 metres asl) with regards Snow and Ski resort potential. IMO the scottish highlands have a way more ski potential due to the fact that they are more vast and further north in the northern hemisphere. Just imagine if the wicklow mountains area were 200-300m plus higher in elevation. The potential would be epic then in a cold easterly.

maquiladora

GEM has moved towards the GFS solution for next week. I'm expecting the ECM to do the same, even though it already backed off a bit this morning. Just when it was starting to look like we were going to get a proper easterly blast after the weekend...