Atlantic Storm Watch: December 2013

mickyfitzy2 · 19-12-2013 1:09am

ZX7R wrote: »

have to say with out maq ,weathercheck,mt, iancar and many many others the weather forum would be a quite place to post,I am always learning something new from them

Agree and these guys whilst they know what they talk about they are very understanding to us newbees!

Lumi · 19-12-2013 1:11am

Winds peaked in Galway city between 5:30-6:00pm
Highest Gust 60.0 mph at 17:28
Highest Speed (10 minute average) 34.0 mph (F7) at 17:48

Currently 4.2C with blustery showers of hail/sleet

mayo.mick · 19-12-2013 1:12am

Screen shots uploaded now.

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mickyfitzy2 · 19-12-2013 1:14am

Wind has dropped significantly in Buncrana in the last hour. Dont need that last hot half to get me to sleep... think I'LL STILL HAve it anyway!

pad199207 · 19-12-2013 1:15am

Sleet shower just moved through here

acassells80 · 19-12-2013 1:20am

pad199207 wrote: »

Sleet shower just moved through here

Any sleet or snow for Dublin overnight?

pad199207 · 19-12-2013 1:22am

acassells80 wrote: »

Any sleet or snow for Dublin overnight?

I think there may be a few surprises by the morning in a few areas

acassells80 · 19-12-2013 1:25am

pad199207 wrote: »

I think there may be a few surprises by the morning in a few areas

Here's hoping May finally start to feel like Christmas!

mountainy man · 19-12-2013 1:32am

Nice flurry of graupel out there at the mo.

patneve2 · 19-12-2013 1:32am

Sleety rain shower just passed through

rilz · 19-12-2013 1:35am

Wee breeze up NE Antrim coast. Just a few wee gusts with the showers that pass

Pa ElGrande · 19-12-2013 1:40am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbhOUl9ppy4

On the morning of 5 December 2013 the Forth Road Bridge was closed to all vehicles except cars due to gale force winds, when the driver of a delivery van from furniture retailer Warren Evans Bedmakers of London chose to ignore the warning signs and attempt to cross anyway.

This CCTV footage from the bridge shows what happened.

rilz · 19-12-2013 1:51am

No wind at all in NE Antrim on coast now. Eerie calm. Strongest winds must of hit the West.

snowstorm2013 · 19-12-2013 1:56am

I think north Sligo dodged a bullet tonight. Yes it was very windy for a time, storm force gusts, but not the worst storm I have experienced here. In fact I would say we get winds of this strenght here on average two times over the course of a winter. But I dont regret getting the weakened tree felled yesterday...one or two of the gusts could have knocked it on to my garage.

Anyway the word is locally no damage in the area. I was in Bundoran at 9pm and it was windy but nothing out of the ordinary and no electricity outages. My brother in West Dublin described a squall that there this afternoon and by the sound of things the winds and rain there were just as comparable as here.

I was outside a few minutes ago checking on sheep and its still blustery but skies are clear. It has turned very cold. Sleety showers earlier.

I know its a week away but there has been talk of more storms for Christmas Day but again the models all seem to be showing different scenarios. When will M.T. make a call on Christmas Day? I have found his forecasts, and indeed forecasts by others on here, to be very good. I know some parts of Ireland have been battered and just becasue here it was extraordinarily stormy doesnt make me think the forecasts on here or by Met Eireann were wrong! Sometimes in storms ceratin areas seem to fare better, or worse, than other areas.

snowstorm2013 · 19-12-2013 1:58am

* it WASN'T extraordinarily stormy.......

bohsboy · 19-12-2013 2:01am

Donegal town, complete silence at 1am. From what has gone on in the last six hours to this is unbelievable. Is it the eye of the storm?

RobertKK · 19-12-2013 2:02am

Johnny1999 wrote: »

Getting windy in North Kilkenny. Just driven through some very snowy sleet!

Yeah we have snow, and it is sticking too. Currently having a snow show shower.

NIMAN · 19-12-2013 2:05am

Pa ElGrande wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbhOUl9ppy4

Unfortunately a guy lost his life on Derry's Foyle Bridge a few years ago when his lorry was blown off it in high winds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4165489.stm

tylercollins · 19-12-2013 2:31am

I expected a lot worse! From the 100 miles of driving I did tonight around the Derry area, I didn't come across too much damage. Few downed trees on back roads, John Street Christmas tree snapped in 2 lying on the road, Ardlough Road closed due to flooding, New Bridge is closed to all vehicles and just lots of branches on the roads. We'll know the full extent of the damage in day light, but I think we got off lightly to be fair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRWqa2oQaOg

NIMAN wrote: »

Unfortunately a guy lost his life on Derry's Foyle Bridge a few years ago when his lorry was blown off it in high winds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4165489.stm

And for that reason the bridge now has a complete new safety system Something in the region of £750k was spent redoing the bridge and safety features.

Senna · 19-12-2013 2:38am

NIMAN wrote: »

Unfortunately a guy lost his life on Derry's Foyle Bridge a few years ago when his lorry was blown off it in high winds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4165489.stm

But there was no warnings in operation at the time that lorry was blown off the bridge. It was a storm that was predicted well in advance and although I can't remember the timings now, that man lost his life at the very time the winds were forecasted to be strongest. The bridge should have been closed (closed to large vehicles anyway) on the basis of the forecast alone.

rilz · 19-12-2013 2:56am

Friday could be stormier. Hope so anyway

Fitzo · 19-12-2013 3:24am

Thunder and lightning over Sligo town at present.

And hail for good measure.

Weathering · 19-12-2013 4:14am

Mace head in Galway saw the worst of it with 78knots recorded yet the North West was expected to bear the brunt of the storm. 73knots recorded in Malin head is pretty standard for a normal Winter storm in Malin head. For me It was windier last week than it was tonight. I know coastal areas were hit hard but honestly this was a non-event for my location and from friends I've spoken to in the surrounding area they agree. In conclusion a storm in a tea cup for my local area, just a normal wet and windy night. I'm not trying to belittle any area that had it bad I just feel it was over hyped from what I witnessed. Seems to be the way of late, storms ain't what they used to be

monster1 · 19-12-2013 5:15am

lightning in galway city now

Rebelbrowser · 19-12-2013 6:01am

Kent station incident now being described as mini tornado ...

‘Mini tornado’ destroys part of Kent station roofBy Conall Ó Fátharta and Eoin English - Thursday, December 19, 2013

A "miracle escape" was how shocked witnesses described the mini-tornado which caused the collapse of a large section of the roof in Cork train station.

The freak weather which ripped through the station moments after the Cork-Cobh train had left the platform at 3pm left a woman in her 20s injured.

Staff and onlookers at the station all spoke of the relief that no one had been killed in the incident, which scattered huge chunks of the roof several hundred metres across the station carpark.

On the platform, a large portion of the roof collapsed onto a train which was not in service, while the rest slumped onto the platform which seconds earlier had contained passengers bound for Cobh.

Train driver Ian Fuller, who witnessed the event, said a train bound for Cobh had left the station 35 seconds before the roof was ripped from the platform by what he said could only be described as a "mini tornado".

"I have never seen anything like it. The Cobh train had just pulled away from the platform.

"I was looking at the canopy flapping as the wind picked up and it was exactly 35 seconds after the train had left when all of a sudden huge chunks of the roof were in the air. A big piece lifted off and smashed off the wall next to our canteen but luckily it didn’t come through the window," he said.

The train driver said it was a miracle that no one was hurt in the incident which shut down the entire train station.

"It was a miracle no was badly hurt because if it had come down around 5pm or 6pm it could have been different. There were four people on the platform when it happened. Three of them just ran towards the concourse. I saw one woman come through covered on one side in black dust and holding her arm so she seemed to have been injured by some of the debris," he said.

Tamas Liszkai, who works in a garage across the road from the train station, was returning from his lunch when he saw "a tornado" lift sections of the roof into the air and crash towards the front of the station.

"I saw the wind, like a tornado, and heard crashing. The first part ripped off and was blown towards the main entrance. A bus was picking people up at the entrance and I though it was going to crash in to them."

"And a few seconds later, the entire roof was destroyed. I saw pieces flying everywhere — it was like a huge explosion. I thought more people might be injured," he said.

Like many others who were on the scene seconds after the roof collapsed, elderly rights campaigner Paddy O’Brien was shocked by the destruction, saying it was "a miracle" nobody had died.

The damage caused by the freak tornado didn’t end there. Just down the road from the train station, a number of houses on the lower Glanmire Road were also damaged by the high winds.

Lucas Ckijspi said there was "panic" after the roof collapse but said emergency services arrived on the scene very quickly.

"It was a very sharp, very hard wind and I just saw the roof flying. It was all very quick, it was over in seconds," he said.

A local resident, who declined to be named, said he was sitting in his front room when he heard a huge bang.

"There was torrential rain at the time and next thing I heard was a huge bang.

"I suppose the best way to describe it was like as if something had fallen out of the sky.

"I looked out the door and, as you can see, there was damage and slates everywhere. There was a bit of damage to the front of my house. It all happened all of a sudden and was all over in a few seconds," he said.

emer_b · 19-12-2013 6:02am

Lightning storm directly over Clare now, that was honestly the loudest thunder I've ever heard in Ireland, woke me from a deep sleep, lightning lit up the room.

Iancar29 · 19-12-2013 6:36am

Kent station was definitely a straight line wind event due to the squall line . Have the 3 pm radar image saved to my phone and all .

RIP to the girl in Mullingar

IMO we need to have stronger toned warnings on radio stations , even it's just something like " damaging line of winds approaching in the next 20 mins , stay inside and until
the weather has passed . "
If this was America they'd of been all over this storm on the news and radio constantly warning people.

Yes it could have been a lot worse but more needs to be done in terms of up to date radio forecast or alerts .