Severe Wind Storm late 26th-27th December

MadYaker

Just took a walk down the prom in Salthill in Galway a while ago. It looks like there hasn't been too much flooding but the place is trashed there is seaweed everywhere, some a good 20 metres from the shore. I also saw a steel stand for one of those ring buoys face down on the ground. It was bolted into the concrete but the force of the wind actually tore the steel and bent the whole thing over. I'm at parents house up on threadneedle road, it got seriously rough last night but theres been no major damage, the wheelie bins and outdoor christmas lights are gone but thats it. There are large single story windows on the side house which were flexing quite a bit last night but they survived. Can't say I was ever actually scared like some other posters here, but then again I did go to sleep at around 2am after having quite a bit to drink so I didn't wake up.

Its a lot calmer here now, a bit of rain and wind but thats it.

Harps

No harm in all the reports on here, it's just a bit confusing reading posts like 'worst storm in decades' , 'hope I survive the night' etc then seeing the actual wind reports not even recording gale force winds away from coastal headlands. It was a significant event for much of the country but it's not even the worst storm this week in terms of wind speed

hatchets mcgovern

oterra wrote: »

Almost total darkness in Firhouse D24, torrential rain!

and the oscar goes to!

Storm 10

I passed the prom at 8-30 this morning, the main road was covered i weed, the car park opposite Killorans was full of seaweed and water, the road at the back of Seapoint was flooded as was the car parks, there was seaweed and stones all over the road, the City Council guys were out cleaning the place and clearing the blocked drains, well done all the emergency services that were out this morning

MadYaker

Ah, I didn't see Seapoint, I started at the other end of the prom and didn't go the whole way. Did you see the big piles of seaweed outside the aquarium? Crazy.

Storm 10

Harps wrote: »

No harm in all the reports on here, it's just a bit confusing reading posts like 'worst storm in decades' , 'hope I survive the night' etc then seeing the actual wind reports not even recording gale force winds away from coastal headlands. It was a significant event for much of the country but it's not even the worst storm this week in terms of wind speed

Met Eireann said at lunchtime that the highest gust they recorded was 148 kmh but there could have been higher, thats almost 90 mph, I recorded 78 mph on my weather station last night but the real surprise was how long the wind gusts were lasting in strength, Galway Harbour recorded 90 mph on their weather station

John.Icy

There is many ways to look at this storm. One of the main things is like someone just said, personal interpretation. Some people on boards, severe is a few leaves blowing around. For some, severe is tree's going down and storm related accidents be it pedestrians or via car. For others, it's nasty structural damage. Some take a more blended approach. So people will always have a different standard to a storm from the get go.

Secondly, sound. I think many people to be able to judge a storm properly need to hear a 50mph gust in a westerly wind on the west coast and somewhere in the midlands. On the west coast it'll sound like a freight train, hence people found the experience scary. The same wind in the midlands won't sound that bad. I remember a easterly gale (I'm in the east) awhile back and the sound was deafening, but I don't think many registered very high winds at all. Now if you listened to that easterly gale somewhere in the west, it wouldn't sound impressive at all. Hooter23 brought up a good point, he said the storm sounded very intense, but he only got a gust in the 50mph range (give or take whether he has it at 10m etc), so sound vs. reality is something people skip by at first.

Thirdly, your surroundings. What kind of house do you live in, trees in your area, structural flaws etc. My house was built properly, it doesn't shake in even the slightest in no matter what wind we've had so far. Trees in my area are exceptionally healthy and strong. I haven't checked around today yet, but I'm presuming all is grand tree wise as it's so rare even big branches come down. The remnants of Hurricane Gordon in 2006 was the last storm to cause bad damage to trees in my area. All my fences are secure, they don't blow away. It's really hard to tell how bad a storm is for me sometimes, because other areas are reporting shaking houses, trees down everywhere, fences being damaged etc, and it always leaves me wondering, are you all living in cardboard houses with plastic trees. Of course you aren't, but one has to wonder the reason for such reports in different areas with similar wind speeds.

Now all that above would be my thoughts for every storm really. Plenty of people on here have blown other storms well out of proportion in areas other than the North and West. So many past threads I've read through pages of people reporting gusts of 50km/h or that and talking about the 'violence' and 'extreme' conditions. Same with snow really, I'd never find it but MT made a hilarious post back a few years comparing boardsie snow vs. reality, ie; A blizzard reported by a boardsie was a few snow flakes blowing in the wind etc. That's what it is like for many on here, no idea how to use words to describe the wind they are really getting.


But back to this current storm. For alot of the North and West, move along, nothing to see here is probably the large consensus by them, but still a very gusty night. For the Midlands, South, East, SW, this was a very nasty storm. No huge gusts or anything, but a long period of high sustained winds coupled with strong gusts made it very nasty out there. Worst in a good while in terms of sustained wind (I'm sure we seen similar wind speeds regularly but not for many hours) for sure.

Conmaicne Mara

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.

100%

Said as much yesterday about sensationalization and was rubbished for it.

Am right on the coast in West Connemara, had empty IBC tank (that is a plastic 1000 litre drum inside a light aluminium frame) on the most exposed part of the farm, never budged. Nothing out of place on the farm. Passed derelict and unfinished houses, farm sheds I know with roofs in poor condition.

Just been to Clifden and back, seen no damage of any kind. Power never went out.

FWVT

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

100%

Said as much yesterday about sensationalization and was rubbished for it.

Am right on the coast in West Connemara, had empty IBC tank (that is a plastic 1000 litre drum inside a light aluminium frame) on the most exposed part of the farm, never budged. Nothing out of place on the farm. Passed derelict and unfinished houses, farm sheds I know with roofs in poor condition.

Just been to Clifden and back, seen no damage of any kind. Power never went out.

Still, sustained winds of 54 knots, gusting to 71, at Mace Head is nothing to be sneezed at.

Reading some of the comments on here I now remember why I stopped visiting this forum.

Backfire

FWVT wrote: »

Still, sustained winds of 54 knots, gusting to 71, at Mace Head is nothing to be sneezed at.

Reading some of the comments on here I now remember why I stopped visiting this forum.

Or you could continue to visit this sub-forum and ignore the posts you do not agree with. It is what most people do.

Conmaicne Mara

FWVT wrote: »

Still, sustained winds of 54 knots, gusting to 71, at Mace Head is nothing to be sneezed at.

Reading some of the comments on here I now remember why I stopped visiting this forum.

Am about 8km from Mace head (on the coast here, not inland), I can see it from here. There were strong winds, no one is doubting it. It's the sensationalization that's annoying some, me included. "Seek shelter", as one poster in AH put it "The drama". Again I will say I see parallels with what happens when snow is mentioned on here, people lose the run of themselves.

Karl Stein

Well I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed this thread last night. You can be watching the planes diverting on flightradar.com, tracking fishing boats dashing for shelter on marinetraffic.com and having a bit of light-hearted banter about the storm on boards.ie. Not so long ago it would have been impossible to have all that information at your fingertips but now it's considered routine - that's why I love the internet.







.

thecretinhop

Hurrah found my ridge tiles pretty amazing they travelled a good bit too, I won't even respond to idiotic comments,
but in general I think it is fair to say that for some especially localised gusts were severe and for others it was not much more than last week, for example parts of rural Galway have walls down sheds destroyed roof damage etc for others not so much, anyway well done mt maq wck etc great work stay safe people a lot of trees etc have got a good wallop roots might be loose now

Lumi

This thread is for discussion and analysis of the storm NOT not for petty bickering and snide personal remarks
CUT IT OUT!

hats199

Having spent a long cold night, without electricity, woken periodically by howling winds and dislodging roof slates, I for one am glad that secondary to official met reports I had informative, live and at times humorous weather updates here. Any scientist will know that analysis in this scenario will be observer subjective and filter the information with their own observations.

whitebriar

The Esb fault line is over run.
It's playing a generic we have a fault message on a loop with no area specific details.
Got through eventually and they weren't aware of a new fault in the north wexford area that started around noon.

tphase

A friend of mine who lives close to Mace Head says he has never seen the waves as big there http://macehead-webcam.nuigalway.ie:8650/
Sea state looks to have eased a bit at this stage

Cosmo Kramer

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Am about 8km from Mace head (on the coast here, not inland), I can see it from here. There were strong winds, no one is doubting it. It's the sensationalization that's annoying some, me included. "Seek shelter", as one poster in AH put it "The drama". Again I will say I see parallels with what happens when snow is mentioned on here, people lose the run of themselves.

Again, it is all relative. Mace Head is used to 70mph batterings. If the standard you set is based on winds found on the Galway, Mayo and Donegal coasts then last night's numbers won't be setting your pulse racing. It is not surprising that most of the 'just a windy day' comments are coming from people right out on the coast where tolerances are higher. Nothing exceptional happened in these places. The difference with this storm was the extent to which it spread inland to more populated areas, the sustained nature of the winds as opposed to one off coastal gusts and the direction changes as the low drifted past.

And comparing the reaction to the wind levels here to tornado valley is just ridiculous. Again, it is all relative, for much of Ireland this was a one in ten year event or more. We hadn't had any structural damage here for 15 years before last night, even though we'll have had the wind speeds before it was the unusual direction and sustained nature of the winds that did the damage this time.

Tactical

Kippure wrote: »

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

We start the annual Snow Dance in the hopes that the Snow gods blanket us with the precious white flakes

Hooter23

Be nice now to have a break from the storms and get some cold snowy weather feels like we have had this stormy weather for ages now

yop

Hooter23 wrote: »

Be nice now to have a break from the storms and get some cold snowy weather feels like we have had this stormy weather for ages now

I'd sing for that, for some weird reason I get awful headaches with wind and low pressure, so my head won't be sorry

Bring on the snow for a week before I go back to work.

Conmaicne Mara

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Again, it is all relative. Mace Head is used to 70mph batterings. If the standard you set is based on winds found on the Galway, Mayo and Donegal coasts then last night's numbers won't be setting your pulse racing. It is not surprising that most of the 'just a windy day' comments are coming from people right out on the coast where tolerances are higher. Nothing exceptional happened in these places. The difference with this storm was the extent to which it spread inland to more populated areas, the sustained nature of the winds as opposed to one off coastal gusts and the direction changes as the low drifted past.

And comparing the reaction to the wind levels here to tornado valley is just ridiculous. Again, it is all relative, for much of Ireland this was a one in ten year event or more. We hadn't had any structural damage here for 15 years before last night, even though we'll have had the wind speeds before it was the unusual direction and sustained nature of the winds that did the damage this time.

I agree with your post, it is the piece in bold I was trying to highlight, or at least the spirit of that within other posts if you know what I mean. Tabloid weather reporting if that's a better way of putting it.

El Horseboxo

Calina wrote: »

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.

I've lived in Ireland. Both Dublin and the west. I know the weather patterns so I'm not projecting anything based on another climate. I've many years experience in both. Also personally I'd rather be in -3 in Ireland than -15 in Minnesota. Damp or not I find the colder temperature less bearable. Maybe it's my tropical blood.

I know the met service had a red warning. But the text accompanying it wasn't over the top. It just described the forecast and told people to be careful. I'm talking about some of the comments on here. They were way over the top and could easily create a boy who cried wolf scenario. Something that should never be created when it comes to weather systems given how dangerous they can be.

yellowlabrador

Here in Dunmanway, West Cork, the pubs had just emptied and Gatsby's, the local nightclub had about 500 people in it dancing the night away when the electricity went. Drink and storms and power cuts don't mix. There was chaos out there for a few hours. I'm sure it was a great adventure for some, but I was relieved to be able to follow the warnings and advice on this site. I'm quite sure lives were saved.

Iancar29

Sferics currently being picked up from this cell.



With 60knots at 850hp still , expect some of these to filter down !
Delays no doubt for Dublin airport.

Red Pepper

Weathering wrote: »

Here is a list of gusts recorded pre midnight 26/12/89 http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/maps/current?LANG=en&DATE=1388059200&CONT=euro&LAND=IE&KEY=IE&SORT=3&UD=0&INT=06&TYP=windspitzen&ART=tabelle&RUBRIK=akt&R=310&CEL=C&SI=mph

Post Midnight 27/12/89 http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/maps/current?LANG=en&DATE=1388145600&CONT=euro&LAND=IE&KEY=IE&SORT=3&UD=0&INT=06&TYP=windspitzen&ART=tabelle&RUBRIK=akt&R=310&CEL=C&SI=mph

Higher gust were achieved last week 18/12/13 http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/maps/current?LANG=en&DATE=1387368000&CONT=euro&LAND=IE&KEY=IE&SORT=3&UD=0&INT=06&TYP=windspitzen&ART=tabelle&RUBRIK=akt&R=310&CEL=C&SI=mph

And the non event storm of xmas eve highest gust came up 2miles per hour shorter than last nights wind http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/maps/current?LANG=en&DATE=1387886400&CONT=euro&LAND=IE&KEY=IE&SORT=3&UD=0&INT=06&TYP=windspitzen&ART=tabelle&RUBRIK=akt&R=310&CEL=C&SI=mph

Last nights wind totals are nothing exceptional 133km/h strongest met gust at a coastal location
Top 4 inland gusts recorded-Shannon airport 117km/h
Dublin airport 115km/h
Cork 109km/h
Casement 108km/h
The other inland stations scraped the 100km/h mark or didn't Balyhaise highest record 94km/h

I'm not for saying the storm wasn't bad for those effected by it buts nothing out of the ordinary for a typical Irish storm, perhaps its because it hit areas less used to them it seems worse than it actually was

That's exactly how it seemed to me. A typical Irish storm. I think some Christmas idleness led to some hyping .

Down at the Galway prom for high tide but there wasn't much happening. One road is closed but there was no serious flooding this time around.

So were any records broken anywhere at any Irish weather station?

Hooter23

El Horseboxo wrote: »

I'm talking about some of the comments on here. They were way over the top and could easily create a boy who cried wolf scenario. Something that should never be created when it comes to weather systems given how dangerous they can be.

I think it was just people giving their honest opinion and for me here in Galway it was the worst storm since 1998 I think its because the sustained winds were so high that made it sound so bad and there was no lull like we normally get it was just constant.
Wait till the storm of the century hits imagine the comments then haha:p

Mr Cumulonimbus

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Again, it is all relative. Mace Head is used to 70mph batterings. If the standard you set is based on winds found on the Galway, Mayo and Donegal coasts then last night's numbers won't be setting your pulse racing. It is not surprising that most of the 'just a windy day' comments are coming from people right out on the coast where tolerances are higher. Nothing exceptional happened in these places. The difference with this storm was the extent to which it spread inland to more populated areas

True. Nothing exceptional here tbh. Highlight for me was the 947 mb presssure reading from Belmullet at 1am. Were there any lower readings subsequently I wonder?

Red Pepper

yop wrote: »

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.

You should seriously consider cutting down any large trees that could potentially fall on your house. There are loads of tree surgeons around who would mitigate this risk.

Red Pepper

Hooter23 wrote: »

I think it was just people giving their honest opinion and for me here in Galway it was the worst storm since 1998 I think its because the sustained winds were so high that made it sound so bad and there was no lull like we normally get it was just constant.
Wait till the storm of the century hits imagine the comments then haha:p

Show me the data. I am not going on hunches or the number of reported fences down.