General ongoing weather discussion thread (Warning: images)

relaxed

Met Eireann hinting at it as well from next Wednesday 28th, its always next week though!

angelclar

Last week it was next week now this week its next week . Always the same old story nothing changes here

Dick Masterson

angelclar wrote: »

Last week it was next week now this week its next week . Always the same old story nothing changes here

Just like that cold spell in Spring. I think it was about 6 weeks late before it hit.

dopolahpec

Well it is a glorious afternoon in Dublin. Fine late summer weather. More of this please

Larbre34

dopolahpec wrote: »

Well it is a glorious afternoon in Dublin. Fine late summer weather. More of this please

Unfortunately someone just turned off the scenery in Dun Laoghaire. Fine weather to fogbound in about 90 mins, it stops right at the shoreline.

greenpilot

Hi,

I am on holidays from Sept 9th for a week and I am wondering if anyone can tell me what to expect in the South West-West of the Country for that week?

Cheers!

P

Lumi

greenpilot wrote: »

Hi,

I am on holidays from Sept 9th for a week and I am wondering if anyone can tell me what to expect in the South West-West of the Country for that week?

Cheers!

P

Its not possible to give a reliable forecast that far in advance. Broadly speaking its looking more unsettled though that may change.
Check back again closer to the date & keep an eye on MTC's forecasts

Smidge

I'm confused

I want to find out the weather for Sat/Sun and have checked Met.ie, accuweather and loads more and they are ALL giving different forecasts for this weekend!
Surely its not too long range to be able to get some sort of general agreement?

Harps

The weekend will see low pressure stall over the country so unsettled/variable is the best way to describe it, it looks like a complex setup which probably explains the variation in forecasts, at the moment Saturday looks like a washout with Sunday showery but small differences in the way the low develops could mean the difference between a full day of rain or just a few showers.

Kenring

Lumi wrote: »

Kenring, as a few posters have already pointed out, in Ireland the term 'widespread' is generally understood to mean the entire island is at risk.

You have explained that you apply a different meaning to the term, however for the sake of clarity and in order to prevent further bickering and misunderstandings perhaps it would be best to not use the term 'widespread' if a forecast intended to apply to just a county or two

Lumi, <snip> I do hear you, but is this not worth exploring as a discussion point? I do not mean to be obtuse and I seek guidelines, so if I or someone else says that heat, cold, snow or hail may be widespread, would that also mean the entire country? I would have thought that widespread is a loose term meaning that e.g. a rain band approaches and causes showers to spread out over a wide area, ending up who knows where, maybe whole country or maybe not. Your thoughts?

Lumi

Kenring wrote: »

Lumi, <snip> I do hear you, but is this not worth exploring as a discussion point? I do not mean to be obtuse and I seek guidelines, so if I or someone else says that heat, cold, snow or hail may be widespread, would that also mean the entire country? I would have thought that widespread is a loose term meaning that e.g. a rain band approaches and causes showers to spread out over a wide area, ending up who knows where, maybe whole country or maybe not. Your thoughts?

Yes, I would understand the term 'widespread', if used on its own, to mean that the forecast applied to the entire island Ken.

You could clarify by specifying the forecast was for widespread showers across a specific region ie Connacht or area ie widespread along coastal area of the south and west.

odyboody

That is the difference between widely spread and widespread.
Widely spread showers being large dry areas between showers.
Widespread being frequent showers over a large area

Kenring

odyboody wrote: »

That is the difference between widely spread and widespread.
Widely spread showers being large dry areas between showers.
Widespread being frequent showers over a large area

It is an interesting point because I would doubt that people really think that elsewhere as well as Ireland, whole countries are implied. I feel sure that in the USA, Venezuela, Australia, Russia, China, etc, widespread is a loose term and would not mean the whole country. Also, in Ireland, if Met Eireann said hail was widespread and most counties received it, except e.g. counties Antrim and Armagh getting none (so therefore not the whole country), widespread would not be considered incorrect and no one would take issue. Also, I would think that widespread and widely spread were interchangeable.

Kenring

Lumi wrote: »

Yes, I would understand the term 'widespread', if used on its own, to mean that the forecast applied to the entire island Ken.

You could clarify by specifying the forecast was for widespread showers across a specific region ie Connacht or area ie widespread along coastal area of the south and west.

I won't use the term anymore, but 'spread widely' cannot be objectionable?

Lumi

Kenring wrote: »

I won't use the term anymore, but 'spread widely' cannot be objectionable?

Ken, feel free to use whatever terms you choose - it was just suggestion to prevent possible misunderstandings

waterways

Kenring wrote: »

It is an interesting point because I would doubt that people really think that elsewhere as well as Ireland, whole countries are implied. I feel sure that in the USA, Venezuela, Australia, Russia, China, etc, widespread is a loose term and would not mean the whole country. Also, in Ireland, if Met Eireann said hail was widespread and most counties received it, except e.g. counties Antrim and Armagh getting none (so therefore not the whole country), widespread would not be considered incorrect and no one would take issue.

Ken, 'widespread' is not really a loose term.

From the NOAA glossary:

"Widespread

Areal coverage of non-measurable, non-convective weather and/or restrictions to visibility affecting more than 50 percent of a forecast zone(s)."

http://w1.weather.gov/glossary/index.php?letter=w

If a forecast zone is not specified as a region/area the whole country is affected or at least 50 percent.

Met Éireann uses 'widespread' in the same way. See for example the flooding in December 1954 http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/weather-events/Dec1954_floods.pdf or the Orange weather warning level http://www.met.ie/nationalwarnings/warnings-explained.asp

Kenring

waterways wrote: »

From the NOAA glossary:
"Widespread
Areal coverage of non-measurable, non-convective weather and/or restrictions to visibility affecting more than 50 percent of a forecast zone(s)."
If a forecast zone is not specified as a region/area the whole country is affected or at least 50 percent.
Met Éireann uses 'widespread' in the same way.

Well I think that clears that up, good links! You have shown that "widespread" means at least 50% according to NOAA. I'd agree. Unless a whole country is now only 50% of itself then we can safely rule out nothing less than "whole country" for the default meaning. I'm very glad to see Met Eireann uses the meaning in the same way. e.g. the west and the south of Ireland would be 50%.

whitebriar

More than 50% of a country would also mean a MAJORITY of the country.
Just to be clear.
From weather reports today,its clear WARM weather for example,has returned on a WIDESPREAD basis with more than half the country reaching the low 20's celcius(the exposed west being an exception today).
I drove through Arklow,earlier and the car thermometer read 24.5c at times.
Here in the countryside outside the town,it peaked at 23.6c so far,a short time ago on my more scientific and exposed Davis vantage pro 2.

Lumi

Kenring, this discussion originally centred around your erroneous claim that showers along the western and southern coastal margins constituted widespread precipitation

Kenring wrote: »

Sorry, I don't get your point. If ME says west and south coasts that to me would be fairly widespread, considering the length of Ireland's coast line.

The western and southern coastal margins of Ireland do not constitute more than 50% of the landmass and no amount of arguing will make it so.

This whole discussion has now become disruptive, silly and pointless and continuing it serves no purpose.
Do not post on this topic again

waterways

Ken, please read the NOAA definition again.

waterways wrote: »

K

"Widespread

Areal coverage of non-measurable, non-convective weather and/or restrictions to visibility affecting more than 50 percent of a forecast zone(s)."

TV weather presenters sometimes use terms like 'widespread' in a way meteorologists never would do. Meteorological services restrict the usage of 'widespread' to non-convective hazards, for example of severe icing, and non-measurable weather, for example fog. When talking about convective showers they use the term "spread", for example as in the Met Eireann forecast of today "Monday will be dry but Tuesday and Wednesday bring the risk of some showers spreading from the South." And also when they talk about rain they describe it with "Rain spreads to all parts of the country." With this in mind I'm not one for an inflationary loose and distorting the meaning usage of well-defined meteorological terms by weather forecasters.

force eleven

Seeing this is the ongoing weather thread, it looks pretty uninteresting for the next few days - where are the depressions gone? The Atlantic looks like it has shut down again or gone into hibernation.

dopolahpec

force eleven wrote: »

Seeing this is the ongoing weather thread, it looks pretty uninteresting for the next few days - where are the depressions gone? The Atlantic looks like it has shut down again or gone into hibernation.

The GFS this morning is one of the most static and sluggish model runs I have seen. Though, I must admit I am happy to take sluggish and uninteresting weather at the moment. Nothing worse than suddenly having to cycle into severe headwinds and lashing rain in the autumn. It will come eventually but let it be as late as possible...some winters are an absolute torment in this country.

dexter647

I don't remember that many late Septembers where one could stand outside in a t shirt at this hour:)...Could be a very quick transition to winter,which could catch many by surprise, when these present conditions abate.

pad199207

Wind is after picking up here all of a sudden

eskimocat

An absolutely glorious day in Dromahair today. It was so nice to see blue skies and the big yellow yoke (sun) shining away to beat the band.

More of that please tomorrow... nearly afraid to look at the forecast, no actually not going to look, just going to be surprised tomorrow ;p

dopolahpec

Amber warning for rainfall for some Munster counties by Met Eireann; 50-60mm of rain possible between wed 06:00 and thur 06:00, with a yellow warning for much of the rest of Ireland

SeaFields

ME latest reports has many places in the high teens and a few reading 20 at 16.00. Not too bad for 1st October.

It certainly feels it outside too.