Summer 2017 - General Discussion

glightning

Well, the thing with the Azores high is that it's no coincidence where it's positioned. It's position results from the amount of heat that is generated at the equator. 
The high amount of insolation at the equator causes massive amounts of warm air to rise high into the atmosphere and this then moves both north and south towards the earths poles.
As the air moves towards the poles it begins to cool and start sinking again. This generally occurs around 20 to 30 degrees north and south of the equator. It is at these latitudes where the air is almost permanently sinking that the high pressure systems form. The Azores high being one of them.
The other semi-permanent feature in the Atlantic is the Iceland low which general lies between the Davis Straight and Iceland. It is between these two systems (Azores high and Icelandic low) that you get the westerly flow and jet stream. As mentioned above, the jetstream does move about - probably as a result of slight changes in positioning and orientation of the two pressure systems. However, due to the mechanics mentioned at the beginning of this post and the rather permanent nature of the location of the pressure systems, it's pretty much always going to be heading in our general direction.

Gavlor

Meteorite58 wrote: »

Mod Note: Please refrain from making such remarks.

Apologies, it was in jest. I should have worded it better and certainly wasn't accusing the poster of lying!

George Sunsnow

Suns out again this morning in Arklow
16.9c no complaints:)

Elmer Blooker

glightning wrote: »

Well, the thing with the Azores high is that it's no coincidence where it's positioned. It's position results from the amount of heat that is generated at the equator. 
The high amount of insolation at the equator causes massive amounts of warm air to rise high into the atmosphere and this then moves both north and south towards the earths poles.

I have been wondering why the Azores high is consistently more intense in the winter months when the northern hemisphere cools as the sun is south of the equator and directly over the Tropic of Capricorn? I would have thought the Azores high would be a lot further north when the northern hemisphere is at its warmest and not the other way around? Heres a typical winter chart that we are now sick of looking at year in, year out! - the winter eater!!
Meanwhile, the November like gloom goes on and on and on and on ...................

Oneiric 3

glightning wrote: »

I still think it plays a role... it cools the low level air above it and creates an increased temp gradient between the warm air at the Azores and cool air due to cool sea temps near Greenland. This promotes low pressure system formation or cyclogenesis of existing lows. Also, any air coming to Ireland from that direction is going to be cooler than it would have been if sea temps were average or warm.

Regarding warm temps and wet conditions, well yes, there is always the chance for that given the air is going to be warmer and therefore hold more moisture.

Whether Ireland gets that moisture is down to the whole interconnected pattern, and as you say there are other mechanisms at play such as the warm waters to our North.

Overall, I still think the sea temp anomalies are driving the direction of the jetstream (and hence the LP systems).

Of course, we must be realistic.. the geography dictates the climate. We cannot get away from the fact that the jetstream has always and will always be blasting away near our shores. Neither can we change the fact that we are at the eastern edge of a huge ocean, with only a tiny land mass that struggles to dry any air out, and at a latitude of 50 to 55 degrees north where the suns insolation is diluted significantly over a wide area and therefore is much kiss effective at evaporating any moisture in the air.

Good points.

I will say though that July, as months go, is actually a very westerly month on average (I think I have heard it said that it is amongst the most westerly of all the months of the year), and if we look at the 30 year average pattern for July:



it doesn't look all that out of place with the current pattern.


Regarding N. Atlantic SSTs. There are very little cool waters in the region, and what there is, is reserved for the far western side of ocean. Temps in and around Ireland are well above. (animation below shows actual temps Vs anomalies)



One would think, just going by the charts above, that the temp gradient over the N. Atlantic would be actually less steep than usual for the time of year, considering that the warmest deviations are to the north while the coolest are to the south.

Oneiric 3

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

Clonmel1000

What are we looking at here?

km79

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

What are we looking at here?

A man vomiting

I don't know but it looks dry which makes me happy

squarecircles

Please,please,please,please or i will crack up if the gloom drizzle nightmare doent end

Meteorite58

Nice drop of rain in Southern counties tomorrow.

Meteorite58

Cool enough tomorrow until early evening when the temperature should improve after the fronts go through.

Harry Palmr

Should be welcoming tomorrows downpour but as I'll be out in it I'm ambivalent. Hopefully it won't be as heavy as it looks like being.

Gavlor

Meteorite58 wrote: »

Nice drop of rain in Southern counties tomorrow.

This is just Donegal storm getting his revenge on me for my earlier post!

glightning

Some consensus starting to show up between GFS and ECMWF for high pressure next week. I really hope this happens as I'm off work from 5pm tomorrow until the 24th.

George Sunsnow

We appear to be on the very north edge of the southern rain band in Arklow so far
Very light spits falling
Ground so far dry
Nothing measurable overnight
13c

I suppose we got a good run at it

Harry Palmr

Pissing down then not then pissing down again, looks like this is full of little pulses of downpour but with dry holes just to fool you.

George Sunsnow

Only spits here in Arklow,the suns actually trying to poke out
Ground bone dry
Looks like the drought ish conditions continue

Cantona's Collars

Rain here in Wexford. We missed that band of rain on Sunday evening,drove through it and it stopped on the Kildare/Carlow border.First bit of rain I've seen in a few weeks during daylight hours.Any other bits were at night.

George Sunsnow

Steady welcome rain here now
Ground is actually getting wet

Dr Crayfish

Thoroughly miserable day in Dublin. Have we any fine spells on the horizon like we had last month? That started on a Saturday and ended on a Friday I think, so 6 days in June, and maybe 2 decent ones in July, but I can't remember any sun splitting the sky days so far in July. So 8ish days of good summer weather so far this summer? That's if you use the June, July, August summer, according to met.ie and the rest of Europe.

Yourself isit

The next three days will be good in Dublin.

George Sunsnow

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Thoroughly miserable day in Dublin. Have we any fine spells on the horizon like we had last month? That started on a Saturday and ended on a Friday I think, so 6 days in June, and maybe 2 decent ones in July, but I can't remember any sun splitting the sky days so far in July. So 8ish days of good summer weather so far this summer? That's if you use the June, July, August summer, according to met.ie and the rest of Europe.

We've had quite a few days on the Wicklow Wexford border where there's been a lot of sunshine
It's also been very very dry down here on the coast
Before today the last appreciable rain was on the June bank hol weekend
Grass has been burned a bit in places

Quite wet here now 9.1mm so far all welcome especially if the models suggesting a lot of fine weather next week onwards plus if the lrf's some have done for a lot of fine in August happen

km79

Decent day on east Galway
Warm enough for shorts and dry

Gonzo

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Thoroughly miserable day in Dublin. Have we any fine spells on the horizon like we had last month? That started on a Saturday and ended on a Friday I think, so 6 days in June, and maybe 2 decent ones in July, but I can't remember any sun splitting the sky days so far in July. So 8ish days of good summer weather so far this summer? That's if you use the June, July, August summer, according to met.ie and the rest of Europe.

we've really only had 2 properly decent days since July 1. Saturday 8th of July was really good and I think Tuesday 4th?

The evening of the 7th was decent and the first half of the 9th was decent. Tomorrow should be a decent day, then unsettled from Thursday to early next week.

sryanbruen

Yes Gonzo, I think you're thinking of June 27th which had around 22c and lots of sunshine.

George Sunsnow

Still raining in Arklow
Varying from very light to light with some moderate bursts
12.8mm on the Davis So a quite useful half inch in an area that's seen a lot less than other parts
Coldest day of the summer here
Currently 14.1c

Xenji

Third overcast day in a row in Castlebar, Saturday was the last day the sun broke through, up to 15C though after just scrapping 13C the previous two days.

Gonzo

one of the coldest days of summer for sure, brightening up now. Warmer air starting to make it's way into the west now. The rest of the week will be a good 5 to 7C warmer than today.

sryanbruen

A maximum of 14.6c here today. It was my coldest day since June 29th which had a maximum of only 12.9c.

Harry Palmr

Well that was arguably another rain event that failed to live up to it's billing - sure a few pulses as mentioned above but really just annoying rain and then it pretty dried from lunchtime. (Waterford)