Spring 2017 - General Discussion

Some extraordinary sunset pictures posted up on the net from around the country last night. Any particular reason why yesterday was so good? Dust? Volcanic origins etc? Not aware of any such notable activity in the last while.

Andy From Sligo

any truth in rain spreading up from the south tomorrow affecting west and northwest if so is it likely to be heavy rain or just light showers? - i want to finish off painting a wall

JCX BXC

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

any truth in rain spreading up from the south tomorrow affecting west and northwest if so is it likely to be heavy rain or just light showers? - i want to finish off painting a wall

Heavy showers, I doubt you'll get your wall painted to be honest!

Andy From Sligo

JCX BXC wrote: »

Heavy showers, I doubt you'll get your wall painted to be honest!

ah right thanks, the store where I bought paint from said dont listen to forecast it will be grand tomorrow but I had my suspicions ...

MJohnston

It's been a bit disappointing watching the sunny period end point creep up from Friday to Wednesday and now just tomorrow (Tuesday). Gah!

Rock Lesnar

Sun burning through the cloud in north meath and feeling quite warm, its a shame there is showers forecast for later on

Oscar Bravo

Dry in castlebar, not a drop of rain. Much cloudier but still a nice day

pad199207

Heavy Downpours here in Naas now

Gonzo

wet here too but feeling much milder compared to recently.

Oscar Bravo

Very heavy downpours in the east Mayo/Roscommon area

sryanbruen

Showery day here but so far only one period of time. Not too bad at all to what I had expected. Very muggy and mild also.

Rock Lesnar

Couple of heavy showers since lunchtime here, sun out again and feels fairly warm

Mars Bar

Torrential shower at about 3 p.m between Dunmore and Williamstown. The wipers couldn't work quick enough!

Oneiric 3

Mars Bar wrote: »

Torrential shower at about 3 p.m between Dunmore and Williamstown. The wipers couldn't work quick enough!

Know that road well!
Naught but a few insubstantial dribbles in Tuam today. Ah well. Some nice cloudscapes earlier though.

Mars Bar

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Know that road well!
Naught but a few insubstantial dribbles in Tuam today. Ah well. Some nice cloudscapes earlier though.

I could see very little on that straight-ish stretch with the Turlough near Curragh West.

Clonmel1000

Came home from Tenerife yesterday naively expecting to find good weather. All I'd heard on Sunday and Monday was weather is great meant to last for the week. Now I'm sure Sunday and Monday were lovely Irish spring days but ffs yesterday and today are not what I'd call good weather lasting for the week. There's a permanent greyness that seems to hang over this country the clouds always seem heavy and low and the light dull really noticeable when you return from somewhere that gets proper good weather.

MJohnston

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

Came home from Tenerife yesterday naively expecting to find good weather. All I'd heard on Sunday and Monday was weather is great meant to last for the week. Now I'm sure Sunday and Monday were lovely Irish spring days but ffs yesterday and today are not what I'd call good weather lasting for the week. There's a permanent greyness that seems to hang over this country the clouds always seem heavy and low and the light dull really noticeable when you return from somewhere that gets proper good weather.

Nah the forecasts had already pulled back the good weather ending on Wednesday by the time Saturday rolled around, then Sunday it was Tuesday.

In fairness, you really missed out, it was absolutely gorgeous even on the chillier East coast for a few days there.

sryanbruen

MJohnston wrote: »

Nah the forecasts had already pulled back the good weather ending on Wednesday by the time Saturday rolled around, then Sunday it was Tuesday.

In fairness, you really missed out, it was absolutely gorgeous even on the chillier East coast for a few days there.

Exactly. From Friday (March 24th) to Monday (March 27th) I recorded a total of 45 hours of sunshine with at least 11 hours of sunshine each day. Haven't had such a period of sunshine in March since the late March 2012 heatwave.

JCX BXC

Clonmel brings the bad weather! (and doesn't check the forecast seemingly!)

pedigree 6

JCX BXC wrote: »

Clonmel brings the bad weather! (and doesn't check the forecast seemingly!)

I blame the immigrants!:p

Life would be dull if everyone was the same.

Ah no the weather looks like improving again from next weekend on again with a blip on Monday.

nagdefy

Beautiful weather for 4 days from Friday to Monday. 16-18C in late March with almost unbroken sunshine is pretty rare. 10-13C would be more the norm temperature wise. And these days are still well above average temperature and no frost at night. Great for gardeners and farmers. As sryan said best March weather since 2012. And to think that this day week we had lying snow

Also there's no way a complete block of 3 to 4 weeks dry weather would be good for our summer prospects. Plenty of history to back that up, though we've had exceptions like the dry, warm 2003 spring which was followed by a very good summer.

pedigree 6

nagdefy wrote: »

Beautiful weather for 4 days from Friday to Monday. 16-18C in late March with almost unbroken sunshine is pretty rare. 10-13C would be more the norm temperature wise. And these days are still well above average temperature and no frost at night. Great for gardeners and farmers. As sryan said best March weather since 2012. And to think that this day week we had lying snow

Also there's no way a complete block of 3 to 4 weeks dry weather would be good for our summer prospects. Plenty of history to back that up, though we've had exceptions like the dry, warm 2003 spring which was followed by a very good summer.

I'm telling you now my crystal ball says expect hosepipe bans this year.:P
So now you've been told.:pac:

PokeHerKing

nagdefy wrote:

As sryan said best March weather since 2012.

Anyone remember what summer 2012 was like?

Clonmel1000

MJohnston wrote: »

Nah the forecasts had already pulled back the good weather ending on Wednesday by the time Saturday rolled around, then Sunday it was Tuesday.

In fairness, you really missed out, it was absolutely gorgeous even on the chillier East coast for a few days there.

Yeah I was sorry I missed the weekend in fairness but not sorry I missed from the 17th to the 23rd which by all accounts was horrendous. Ah I knew myself from M.E. that things were going to change by Tuesday but I'd say people were getting a bit carried away over the weekend about how long it would last. Today is a miserable day around these parts anyway. Wet windy and not mild at all.

Gonzo

really nice day here today, perhaps the warmest day of the year so far with hazy sunny spells and temps almost reached 16C.

sryanbruen

nagdefy wrote: »

Beautiful weather for 4 days from Friday to Monday. 16-18C in late March with almost unbroken sunshine is pretty rare. 10-13C would be more the norm temperature wise. And these days are still well above average temperature and no frost at night. Great for gardeners and farmers. As sryan said best March weather since 2012. And to think that this day week we had lying snow

Also there's no way a complete block of 3 to 4 weeks dry weather would be good for our summer prospects. Plenty of history to back that up, though we've had exceptions like the dry, warm 2003 spring which was followed by a very good summer.

It's not the first time that March had a similar contrast. March 1965 started off extremely cold with some of the lowest March temperatures on record (in England at least, I'm not sure about Ireland) but towards the end of the month, a heatwave took place and brought temperatures widely of 20c. Even parts of England got up to 24 or 25c! To think daytime temperatures were struggling like maximums of -1 or -2c in early March 1965 and then 25c at the end... what a contrast.

Never say never about that because again I say :rolleyes: (how many times have I said this :pac:), Winter 2005/06 and Winter 2016/17 were very alike and remember the Summer that followed Winter 2005/06? SUMMER 2006 baby, absolutely superb Summer and my favourite Summer of my lifetime so far. Spring wise, 2006 had a rather cold March with plenty of miserable conditions. May was very wet also but April was exceptionally sunny. Spring 2006 was a very mixed bag.

And if I recall, Spring 1995 wasn't too bad (aka the Spring that took place before SUMMER 1995!!). March was rather cool but variable in regards to rainfall and sunshine. April was very dry, sunny and warm. May was rather dry and dull but warm at first though becoming cooler.

Spring 2010 wasn't bad at all. 27c was recorded in May, 1st-17th March was completely dry in the east (a drought) and the period 7th-23rd April was very sunny and anticyclonic. Summer 2010 is a very underrated Summer. If it weren't for July and maybe how cool the last few days of August were, I think Summer 2010 would be a popular Summer among people. June was a fabulous month and even much of August was great.

Never say never people!

sryanbruen

PokeHerKing wrote: »

Anyone remember what summer 2012 was like?

And yes I do BUT there's a couple of differences with that Spring and this Spring (so far). You can see the differences here:

March 2012

• Very dry
• Exceptionally warm
• Rather sunny

March 2017

• Rather wet
• Rather mild
• Rather sunny

Also, the first half to April is most certainly not looking like how April 2012 was.

nagdefy

sryanbruen wrote: »

It's not the first time that March had a similar contrast. March 1965 started off extremely cold with some of the lowest March temperatures on record (in England at least, I'm not sure about Ireland) but towards the end of the month, a heatwave took place and brought temperatures widely of 20c. Even parts of England got up to 24 or 25c! To think daytime temperatures were struggling like maximums of -1 or -2c in early March 1965 and then 25c at the end... what a contrast.

Never say never about that because again I say :rolleyes: (how many times have I said this :pac:), Winter 2005/06 and Winter 2016/17 were very alike and remember the Summer that followed Winter 2005/06? SUMMER 2006 baby, absolutely superb Summer and my favourite Summer of my lifetime so far. Spring wise, 2006 had a rather cold March with plenty of miserable conditions. May was very wet also but April was exceptionally sunny. Spring 2006 was a very mixed bag.

And if I recall, Spring 1995 wasn't too bad (aka the Spring that took place before SUMMER 1995!!). March was rather cool but variable in regards to rainfall and sunshine. April was very dry, sunny and warm. May was rather dry and dull but warm at first though becoming cooler.

Spring 2010 wasn't bad at all. 27c was recorded in May, 1st-17th March was completely dry in the east (a drought) and the period 7th-23rd April was very sunny and anticyclonic. Summer 2010 is a very underrated Summer. If it weren't for July and maybe how cool the last few days of August were, I think Summer 2010 would be a popular Summer among people. June was a fabulous month and even much of August was great.

Never say never people!

No other time of the year bar March and April can have wintry and summery weather in such close proximity. Even within the one week! By summery i mean temps of 20C and over. Wintery, snowfall and ice. Perhaps October can sometimes have both weather types but snow in October is rarer than in March and April.

Here are a few examples:

27th March 1995, snow in the northern half of the country, by April 1st the temperatures reached 21C widely.

April 1989 was very cold with snowfall. The winds changed to a southerly direction on 30th of the month and temps exceeded 20C.

2 April 1987, widespread snowfall, by 17th April temps were up to 20C and late that month would edge towards the mid 20s.

Clonmel1000

Dirty evening here wet and dark.

km79

Avoided all the heavy showers by about 1km id say !
6 mm of rain in nearby athenry in the past 2 hours
Nothing much to speak of here thankfully