Severe Wind Storm late 26th-27th December

wil

maiden wrote: »

in Ennis it was the scariest night we have ever put down! The worst in my memory
I think also the posts about aviation, emergency services etc are needed to give people a full view of what is happening around the country.
AA road watch and Garda traffic stopped tweeting approx 12 am last night so there wasn't anywhere the info was being pulled together except here.
This forum was the only place last night that anyone could get real time information about dangers locally and nationally
Thank you so much, I'm not sure entertained is the right word, but I've clued to this forum nearly 24 hours now!

Memories are a lot shorter since the advent of the internet (ai).
Before the world wide web (BW) there was always someone who could remember when whole houses were lifted off their foundations and deposited on the top of a mountain and that wasn't even as bad as the winter of '64

Renegade Mechanic

EazyD wrote: »

Someone failed LC physics I see;)

Yeah but open the back ones too to let the pressure out. I applied a similar principle on a boat once that was taking on water. I made a hole in the bottom to let the water out.

Hooter23

I only recorded a gust of 56.4mph despite it sounding so bad here in Galway although my weatherstation is not in the best spot.
I think the difference with this storm was the winds sounded much more sustained.
It was strong enough wind to rip fencing that was bolted to the wall though:mad:

El Horseboxo

squonk wrote: »

Not sure where you are El Horseboxo but in the mid west it was a bit more than breezy with a strong gust. Yes, not tornadic for sure but by Midwest standards it was one of the more significant events in some time, especially as I'm situated near the coast, though I would imagine Donegal residents might have the bar set a bit higher.

Been in Doolin since yesterday morning. From the US though. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it was just a little bit of wind. It was very breezy at times. But red alerts and seek shelter just seems way over the top for what I experienced last night. And I wasn't talking about tornadic events. Derechos or just violent storms.

Last night was obviously more powerful than the average front crossing Ireland. But because it was expected to be more powerful I believe it was sensationalized. Especially on here. Your national weather service seemed more level headed. There's a light wooden table out the backyard here. It's still in the same position. And I'm near the coast. In a seek shelter event I would not expect to locate it. Never mind just finding it blown over.

El Horseboxo

wil wrote: »

'Twas a grand soft night :cool:

Don't get it.

Miss Lockhart

Was bad enough here in Lucan but not the worst I'm sure. We lost some roof slates and te local school lost part of its roof. Thanks for the updates.

IvyTheTerrible

I must say I like the alert system. We have it over here in France and I believe that damage and injury is reduced because people take note of the alerts and plan accordingly.

[-0-]

My hat was blown clear off my head last night. Disgusted I was. I found it again though.

Eight Ball

Some of the comments from grown men saying it was "terrifying" is frankly embarrassing.

pharmaton

been here 15 years and suffered our first bit of storm damage last night, fence was ripped apart and stuff strewn everywhere, for some of us it appears to have been a once a decade event anyway. (south east coast here) Woke to the sound of chinsaws this morning, surrounded by some great old trees but fortunately the house is still standing and we still have electricity so it's all good. Calm here now

Red Nissan

Keep an ear to the news, reports of building damage in Bandon.

Zyzz

Eight Ball wrote: »

Some of the comments from grown men saying it was "terrifying" is frankly embarrassing.

Not in the slightest..

Spanish Eyes

I put my earplugs in at 3am or so, (the ones I use to block out the OH snoring), he was downstairs with mates lol.

So, woke up about 8am, first thing...were the fence panels still there....? yes, result!

Everything else out in the garden battened down, or put away. Thanks for the warning folks, that is the best advice. Better sure than sorry.

Hope nothing too bad happened to you all.

It getting very wet again here in Dublin, and the wind seems to be rising again, after a bit of calm.

Happy New Year.

Calina

El Horseboxo wrote: »

Been in Doolin since yesterday morning. From the US though. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it was just a little bit of wind. It was very breezy at times. But red alerts and seek shelter just seems way over the top for what I experienced last night. And I wasn't talking about tornadic events. Derechos or just violent storms.

Last night was obviously more powerful than the average front crossing Ireland. But because it was expected to be more powerful I believe it was sensationalized. Especially on here. Your national weather service seemed more level headed. There's a light wooden table out the backyard here. It's still in the same position. And I'm near the coast. In a seek shelter event I would not expect to locate it. Never mind just finding it blown over.

Weather service issued the red level warning for the record.

I think you really need to understand that projecting your experience/weather patterns onto here is a fools errand. Theoretically, your locality should be designed infrastructurally to deal with what is relatively normal weather for you. We get fairly frequent winter storms here and are okay with them up to a given level.

Here's an example - there are times that a temp of -3 deg Celsius here because it is also completely damp and very humid - feels much worse than -15 somewhere with a dry cold atmosphere. We're used to the former. Not the latter. We don't cope with huge dumps of snow and never get them. An inch here will cause chaos.

So what I'm saying is this: you may be used to certain weather patterns. The wind which crossed this country is not an annual event. Believe me, there isn't an event even every 5 years where 70,000 houses wake up without electricity. The warnings are inline, I think, with the difference between what the bulk of the country got, and what it usually gets. I think that's fair enough. There is no point in this country being on constant alert for tornadoes because its not tornado alley.

Last night's storm probably matched one about 40 years ago in this location according to my dad.

Mostly I think we in Ireland are very lucky. We might get a lot of rain but it rarely causes serious problems. Otherwise we are not generally prone to the extremes. This means the rare events do need a certain amount of handling with care.

mhara1

Eight Ball wrote: »

Some of the comments from grown men saying it was "terrifying" is frankly embarrassing.

Give over, it depends on where you are and what you experienced. It felt like the roof was going to lift off here in West Clare last night and as a grown woman I found that pretty bloomin' scary!

Thanks to all for the updates and information, which inspired the husband to clear a few loose branches and fasten stuff round the garden yesterday, much appreciated.

Saganist

Neighbours fencing was blown clear off and ended up at the end of my back garden. T'was stormy for sure.

Steopo

You have to take a balanced view when reading posts on here one man's severe is a tree blown down another's interpretation is roofs blown off houses. Generally if you read what met.ie, MT & other more informed experts like Maq are saying you'll get a very good range of the possibilities - they don't know the outcomes and are not proclaiming to be fortune tellers but are just laying out the forecasts as the models are predicating with a range of impacts across a varied geography (mountains, man made structures, changing wind direction etc..). Forecasts have been really good this last few weeks in my view - lack of flooding due to limited rainfall and no high tides & thankfully no loss of life this week sometimes give the perception that the wind wasn't as bad and it may not have been record breaking but heck it was severe, damaging & windy here in Donabate this morning :eek:


http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/stevofano/media/Waves_zps0ff42092.jpg.html

http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/stevofano/media/Fencedown_zps59026b7b.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

oterra

Almost total darkness in Firhouse D24, torrential rain!

Villain

It's also worth remembering that we don't have many stations in exposed areas measuring winds, many personal stations only measure winds a few meters above ground, even my annometer mounted on a chimney isn't at 10m and is in a pretty sheltered location, although I did record a gust of 98km/h highest since I started my station in 2008.

Chris_5339762

A big tree down in Cobh blocking some local back roads... similar to the Riverstick pic of a few pages back. Also, one of the neighbours lost an entire Leylandi hedge.

A few very old trees were snapped clean in half in exposed parts too.

yop

Eight Ball wrote: »

Some of the comments from grown men saying it was "terrifying" is frankly embarrassing.

So we can't be scared that the wind could cause structural damage to our house or a cause a tree to fall into the house where our kids are sleeping?
Jeezz call me embarrassing for been terrified for my families safety.

SpaceTime

El Horseboxo wrote: »

Been in Doolin since yesterday morning. From the US though. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it was just a little bit of wind. It was very breezy at times. But red alerts and seek shelter just seems way over the top for what I experienced last night. And I wasn't talking about tornadic events. Derechos or just violent storms.

Last night was obviously more powerful than the average front crossing Ireland. But because it was expected to be more powerful I believe it was sensationalized. Especially on here. Your national weather service seemed more level headed. There's a light wooden table out the backyard here. It's still in the same position. And I'm near the coast. In a seek shelter event I would not expect to locate it. Never mind just finding it blown over.

Very much depends on where you were last night. It caused significant structural damage including removing a roof on Cork University Hospital. This is the largest single site hospital in the Republic.

Our garden furniture was all over the place, broken glass in the yard, branches on the cars in the driveway, shed wrecked, large branches in garden, outdoor lighting lampposts wrecked...

I have to inspect the roof later (hard to see as it's a low slope)

It was a very serious event here.

Mr.Wemmick

sometimes I often wonder if children are writing posts on here commenting on the lack of wind in their little world:

*the back gate rattled a couple of times, the dog barked once.. why all the drama, it was nothing, you're all wimps, la la la..*

Okay the rest of us without electricity this morning, with damage to properties, and trees down on local roads, we get it... The moon still follows you, and you alone, when you move, and your house is the center of the universe so if weather doesn't happen in your little garden, the rest of us are dreaming it..

Too funny :P

yop

Was very windy last night but the wind was high here. Gusts wouldn't have been near here on what they were last week.
Same with my parents in Louisburgh.

IvyTheTerrible

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

A big tree down in Cobh blocking some local back roads... similar to the Riverstick pic of a few pages back. Also, one of the neighbours lost an entire Leylandi hedge.

A few very old trees were snapped clean in half in exposed parts too.

The loss of a Leylandi hedge, I'd consider that a win! Allergy causing feckers!

snaps

Eight Ball wrote: »

Some of the comments from grown men saying it was "terrifying" is frankly embarrassing.

Some of the comments on here belong in after hours. Christ, I'm a grown man and I was awoken by howling winds on the 24th (130 km/h/). It had blown our 4th floor windows (attic) out of their frame. I had to go up and sort it out. Didn't know if the roof was going to lift. I was more than scared.

Kippure

So eh what do we do next.....the storms are over.;)

Red Nissan

SpaceTime wrote: »

including removing a roof on Cork University Hospital. .

Update on that for you, it blew some cladding off the facia, the same cladding that gets blown off any time there is a good wind. It turned out to be a non incident.

The hospital did not close or stop services.

Chocolate

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Also, one of the neighbours lost an entire Leylandi hedge.

Many would consider that a bonus!

SpaceTime

Seems this is turning into a sightly more sarcastic version of After Hours. Perhaps time to lock the thread? Storm's over!