Atlantic Storm Watch: December 2013

Tazio

woody1 wrote: »

i have 2 huge ( 12 ft x 8 ft ) windows on the gable of my house that faces south and they tend to creak / flex a bit in high winds..thats why i was asking have we had anything like this in the last few years... not looking forward to this at all , sleepless night ahead..

Hey Woody, did your windows survive the storm? Hope all it well!
Cheers, T

ninebeanrows

snowstreams wrote: »

What officially was the event called in Kent station?
Ive heard it being called a whirlwind vortex and mini tornado now!

It is very likely just a large sudden wind gust in association with the straight line/squall line.

A sudden gust to 120 km/hr can cause such damage, and i doubt the structure was in great conditions.

maquiladora

That low to our northwest on Monday on the GFS has sustained winds of 88-92mph. We don't want to see that tracking any closer.

SpaceTime

Weathercheck wrote: »

It is very likely just a large sudden wind gust in association with the straight line/squall line.

A sudden gust to 120 km/hr can cause such damage, and i doubt the structure was in great conditions.

Particularly when you're a large open canopy roof at the end of a wind funnel.

The structure is the commuter rail section of Kent Station. For anyone in Dublin, it's a bit like the DART platforms at Connolly Station. Semi outdoors and attached to a mainline station.

The mainline platforms were unaffected and area in a much more substantial building with a big classic Victorian rail shed roof.

The main station roof was recently rebuilt, so is in excellent condition. I'm not sure how old that canopy is though.

Thankfully injuries were relatively minor. If it had happened at rush hour it could have landed on large numbers of commuters!

There was pretty serious damage done to the roof structure of other buildings along the same ridge of of the Lower Glanmire road too.
There was very intense wind in Cork City until just after that roof collapsed.
It then quickly became very calm as we were on the edge of the storm system.

I guess they'll be able to figure it out though from NRA and Harbour Commission and maybe even some ESB or other industrial installation weather stations.

There is likely to be a lot of wind monitoring there.

maquiladora

Way off in FI, but a nasty looking storm for Ireland and UK on the 26th/27th with a low deepening coming up from the southwest.

Harps

Saturday could be one to watch yet, gfs has a wave tracking over southern Ireland and developing into a closed low as it does so, if it intensifies quicker then it could be a nasty little system. Then again it could go the opposite way and not develop at all, makes for some interesting model watching

Red Nissan

SpaceTime wrote: »

There was very intense wind in Cork City until just after that roof collapsed. It then quickly became very calm as we were on the edge of the storm system.

My WS:
Lowest Pressure 977.3 hPa @ 14:59
Highest Wind Gust 49 km/h @ 15:04
Highest Hourly Rain 7.2mm @ 14:50

I'm 8km from the station near BC in a sheltered spot for this wind. A lot of Cork Harbour monitoring equipment is being decommissioned and are in various states of distress.

SpaceTime

I was in Montenotte at the time and the wind was pretty violent around then. Enough to lift heavy patio furniture (heavy metal stuff) and hurl it around.

I would suspect there was a pretty serious squall and gusting that was concentrated by that funnel shape at the station.

alfa beta

since becoming a homeowner I love extreme weather just a bit less!!

now I'm off out to start rebuilding a metal shed that literally got torn apart last saturday (all plumbing gear in there - so don't want it getting too wet - roof still just about standing!!)

and i need to replace a velux window - unfortunately the small fella left it slightly open yesterday morning and the wind must have caught it and lifted it up suddenly, breaking all the opening mechanism and ripping back the flashing etc (unfortunately it was set to open from the top, rather than pivot around the middle)

all this on the waterford coast (pretty exposed site though) amazing what strong gusts can do - this house has been up 4 years with no probs - but I guess the strength and direction of the wind on sat morning and yesterday mid-afternoon hadn't been matched here in the 4 years before.

oh well, off out to make things stronger - and of course look forward to the next storm (I'll never grow up really!)

woody1

Tazio wrote: »

Hey Woody, did your windows survive the storm? Hope all it well!
Cheers, T

yeah we got through it fine, weve been here 6 years now and theyve survived all but i hate to see extremes predicted as it just leaves me wondering if theyl take it.. im from meath and living in exposed north mayo for 10 years and im still not used to it, i think we were far enough inland to not get the worst of it last night ( ive definitely seen and heard worse before )
that said it ripped the roof off a shed 500 yards up the road from me..

wretcheddomain

On those images above that Maquiladora supplied, is the significance chiefly due to the closer isobars in that northwest region? In addition, when it says 968, 967 etc. what does this refer to? Thanks.

Tazio

woody1 wrote: »

yeah we got through it fine, weve been here 6 years now and theyve survived all but i hate to see extremes predicted as it just leaves me wondering if theyl take it.. im from meath and living in exposed north mayo for 10 years and im still not used to it, i think we were far enough inland to not get the worst of it last night ( ive definitely seen and heard worse before )
that said it ripped the roof off a shed 500 yards up the road from me..

Glad to hear. I feel your worry. We live on south coast exposed, around 8km inland. Nice panoramic views from SE to W.. But the SW winds normally blow down fences and take the wheelie bins for a spin. I've seen our glass flex like a bubble when gusty... We are here since 2008 only so we've never had a 'real' storm yet. I've a feeling this year we may! :eek:

On the bright side I've a weather station ordered (Cheap one) and I'll get it up online over the x-mas..

maquiladora

wretcheddomain wrote: »

On those images above that Maquiladora supplied, is the significance chiefly due to the closer isobars in that northwest region? In addition, when it says 968, 967 etc. what does this refer to? Thanks.

The closer the isobars: the greater the difference in pressure within that area, the greater the potential for strong winds. The number at the center of the low is the minimum central pressure. Very low pressure has the potential of steep pressure gradients, which bring severe winds.

vizualpics

Snow in Castlebar this morning..

maquiladora

Maybe a thread title update?

New warning from Met Eireann for tomorrow :

STATUS ORANGE

Wind Warning for Munster, Leinster, Connacht, Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan

Strong and gusty south to southwest winds will develop during Friday, reaching mean speeds of between 65 and 80 km per hour, gusting up to 110 to 130 km per hour. Winds will be strongest at the coasts.

Issued:
Thursday 19 December 2013 11:00
Valid:
Friday 20 December 2013 09:00 to Friday 20 December 2013 23:59

Tomorrow will be stormy again with another spell of rain and strong southwest winds arriving in the southwest during the morning, spreading to all parts during the day. The rain will be heavy at times and will persist through the afternoon and evening. Highest temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees, strong southwest winds will gust over gale force again.

maquiladora

maquiladora wrote: »

Wind Warning for Munster, Leinster, Connacht, Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan

Soooo... everywhere in the Republic?

delw

No "mini tornado" according to Professor

[HTML]A professor in UCC has said that yesterday's roof collapse in Cork's Kent Station was caused by a "straight lone wind", and not a "mini-tornado" which he branded a "scientifically meaningless term".[/HTML]
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/ucc-professor-refutes-claim-of-mini-tornado-at-cork-train-station-617622.html

enda1

I'm due to land in Dublin airport at about 19:30 tomorrow evening. What are the chances ye all think that this storm could interrupt things!?

alfa beta

enda1 wrote: »

I'm due to land in Dublin airport at about 19:30 tomorrow evening. What are the chances ye all think that this storm could interrupt things!?

unlikely - i don't see anything too dramatic tomorrow - just a wet and windy day - but nothing that should affect dublin airport

acalmenvoy

alfa beta wrote: »

unlikely - i don't see anything too dramatic tomorrow - just a wet and windy day - but nothing that should affect dublin airport

Ferrys should be good to go as well?

muffler

Sorry, couldn't resist

maquiladora

Dónal wrote: »

Soooo... everywhere in the Republic?

Yes. Worded like that because of how the warning map is split up.

maquiladora

A risk of up to 130 km/h convective gusts tomorrow.

munsterlegend

maquiladora wrote: »

A risk of up to 130 km/h convective gusts tomorrow.

Thanks for that Maq. This could be more damaging than yesterday given the more widespread nature of it despite the wind speed not being as strong. a level 2 warranted?

relaxed

Dónal wrote: »

Soooo... everywhere in the Republic?

Yes I was wondering about that, why not just say national warning in place.

Larbre34

relaxed wrote: »

Yes I was wondering about that, why not just say national warning in place.

We're telling the 6 counties to expect 23C with scattered high cloud, imagine their faces when its gets windy and cold! A little festive humour from the Met;)

maquiladora

munsterlegend wrote: »

Thanks for that Maq. This could be more damaging than yesterday given the more widespread nature of it despite the wind speed not being as strong. a level 2 warranted?

No it won't be as severe as yesterday. A windy day with potential for some strong localised convective gusts, similar to what happened in some places when the front passed over yesterday, but not like the type of winds that the northwest coast got last night.

smallwonder

maquiladora wrote: »

No it won't be as severe as yesterday. A windy day with potential for some strong localised convective gusts, similar to what happened in some places when the front passed over yesterday, but not like the type of winds that the northwest coast got last night.

I hope not. Less three slates on the roof and found my spinning cowl behind the shed and my steel flue is looking decidedly bent:( Heavy hail showers all morning here and just seen some flashes of lightening.

dublinman1990

It took me about 1 hour and 40 minutes to get home from Sandymount to Blackrock as my clothes were sapping wet.

Just as I was walking up Sandymount Avenue to the DART home yesterday evening, a taxi driver in his cab gave me a right splash of water all over the bottom half of me.

Nice one Cabbie!

With my usual bus home being cancelled because of possible delays from Sandyford and not getting home till about 6, I was absolutely freezing when I came home.

maquiladora

A comparison between yesterday and tomorrow. Obviously, not nearly as windy as yesterday for western/northwestern parts. But the country overall (apart from those areas) could see slightly stronger mean winds than yesterday.