Storm Dylan : Sat 30th PM / Sun 31st Dec 2017 AM

M.T. Cranium

Two questions come to mind reading the above (very interesting).

1. Any chance that Claremorris recording location changed around 1995-6? The data appear to take a step down which can indicate a change in exposure? Where are the wind data recorded now?

2. With reference to the list of historical wind gusts, what's the period covered by the data? I don't see Darwin in there, or Ophelia. Looks to be 20th century only and probably post-1945. There was a strong wind event on Feb 27, 1903 that should probably be in the top three of any list. And then there's Jan 1839 and Dec 1886 which we know would be near top of any list.

mickyfitzy2

NIMAN wrote: »

I doubt its windier than you think.

The storm seems to have moved all of Buncrana. Last time I checked it was a lot further than 10 miles from Malin Head.;)

Yes it's actually 14 miles as the crow flies

sryanbruen

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

Like I said, I don't think it's true.

The 11th is notable from that month due to a partial solar eclipse and a 1-3 degree drop in temperature during the morning within an hour when temperatures normally do be rising.

Gaoth Laidir

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Two questions come to mind reading the above (very interesting).

1. Any chance that Claremorris recording location changed around 1995-6? The data appear to take a step down which can indicate a change in exposure? Where are the wind data recorded now?

It looks like it alright.

https://www.met.ie/about/weatherobservingstations/claremorris.asp

The station opened on the 9th November 1943 as a fully manned synoptic station. The manual station was replaced by an AGI automatic station in 1996. The station at Claremorris was officially closed on 1st November 2010 and was replaced by a TUCSON* Automatic Weather Station at the same location from January 1, 2010.

The historical data start in 1950 and run to 30 November 2017, for now. All data should be in there alright. 53 knots for Darwin, 44 for Ophelia.

nagdefy

sryanbruen wrote: »

The 11th is notable from that month due to a partial solar eclipse and a 1-3 degree drop in temperature during the morning within an hour when temperatures normally do be rising.

I was working in the Central Bank at the time and remember us all heading out to the steps with our piece of paper with a small hole to watch the eclipse.

I made a bit of a fool of myself, some fella stepped infront of me and blocked the sun and not seeing him i let a shout 'Total Eclipse'!

Winston Spencer

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Two questions come to mind reading the above (very interesting).

1. Any chance that Claremorris recording location changed around 1995-6? The data appear to take a step down which can indicate a change in exposure? Where are the wind data recorded now?

2. With reference to the list of historical wind gusts, what's the period covered by the data? I don't see Darwin in there, or Ophelia. Looks to be 20th century only and probably post-1945. There was a strong wind event on Feb 27, 1903 that should probably be in the top three of any list. And then there's Jan 1839 and Dec 1886 which we know would be near top of any list.

The gates closed on Claremorris weather station on March 31st 1996. I think the staff moved to Knock Airport. It was a political decision which was very unpopular locally

Shedbebreezy

IMO The most impressive thing about storm in 1998 was a gust of 97mph in Castlederg which is far from the coast in Tyrone

nacho libre

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Good point. Why should they do what they are willingly trained to do, or give up their time, to rescue people? I am sure there are thousands of other jobs these people could have taken up that are much less dangerous to their own lives. I mean, why would they willingly decide to take up such a dangerous position in the first place?

Why does someone choose to be a medic or a rescue pilot?
A sense of civic duty, perhaps, among other reasons. I see nothing wrong with someone choosing to devote their life to helpings others. I still don't think that excuses others for engaging in reckless behaviour that puts their life and the life of a rescuer at risk. Your angle seems to be that people should not be molly - coddled, and thus free to do stupid things like jumping off Salthill Pier during high winds. If you do such things, you should be fined in my view for being a public nuisance.

Oneiric 3

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Two questions come to mind reading the above (very interesting).

1. Any chance that Claremorris recording location changed around 1995-6? The data appear to take a step down which can indicate a change in exposure? Where are the wind data recorded now?

2. With reference to the list of historical wind gusts, what's the period covered by the data? I don't see Darwin in there, or Ophelia. Looks to be 20th century only and probably post-1945. There was a strong wind event on Feb 27, 1903 that should probably be in the top three of any list. And then there's Jan 1839 and Dec 1886 which we know would be near top of any list.

I've considered this possibility M.T, but I don't think this would be a factor because 1, we now have another station in the greater region (Athenry) that reports more or less the same wind speeds as Claremorris and 2. my own personal experience of greater winter storminess in the locality in bygone days. I remember quite a few storms in the 90s that were truly the real thing and they were truly ferocious and very frightening events, and pretty much as Nacho reminisced earlier. The 'storms' here locally over the last decade or more are, at their height, are akin to how the storms I remember started out before they really got going. I also distinctly remember that lightning was not uncommon during these storms, which no doubt was due to enhanced trough lines etc.

Oneiric 3

nacho libre wrote: »

Why does someone choose to be a medic or a rescue pilot?
A sense of civic duty, perhaps, among other reasons. I see nothing wrong with someone choosing to devote their life to helpings others. I still don't think that excuses others for engaging in reckless behaviour that puts their life and the life of a rescuer at risk. Your angle seems to be that people should not be molly - coddled, and thus free to do stupid things like jumping off Salthill Pier during high winds. If you do such things, you should be fined in my view for being a public nuisance.

It is clear we are not going to agree on this Nacho, so I shan't argue with you further. For what it is worth, I can appreciate your argument, but you just don't seem to understand mine.

Oneiric 3

sryanbruen wrote: »

11 August 1999 brought a 78 knot gust?

This is Met Éireann's description for that day:



Note they said light southeasterly winds. Not to mention, the 11th was one of the more higher pressure days of the entire month.

That looks like a set up that would potentially bring some potent homegrowns to the west of Ireland Syran. I wonder if there is a possibility that a tornado touched down near the station on that day?? :P

Jpmarn

11th of August 1999 was the day of a near total solar eclipse especially in the south of Ireland. The path of totality passed over south west England.

M.T. Cranium

Thanks for the responses, perhaps because of today's date I did not take in that the table was for Claremorris only (max gusts) and as to the changes made at observing site, I think that would be a factor in the step down shown in the graph but even with that corrected I think Oneiric's observation is valid about a decline in maximum wind gusts. Maybe the new automatic sensors were situated in a slightly less exposed spot than the human observers had been using. But even if you add 5-10 knots to the data since the move it would still run generally lower.

On to January 4th, our next likely named storm?

Gaoth Laidir

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Thanks for the responses, perhaps because of today's date I did not take in that the table was for Claremorris only (max gusts) and as to the changes made at observing site, I think that would be a factor in the step down shown in the graph but even with that corrected I think Oneiric's observation is valid about a decline in maximum wind gusts. Maybe the new automatic sensors were situated in a slightly less exposed spot than the human observers had been using. But even if you add 5-10 knots to the data since the move it would still run generally lower.

On to January 4th, our next likely named storm?

Here's the station on Google Streetmap. It looks fairly open to the elements. This view is looking southwestwards.



This photo from met.ie is of the back of the compound, also looking southwestwards.

Oneiric 3

Mean daily wind speed at Belmullet for the winter period:



Clearly a peak in the late 80s through the 90s, before falling back down again.


Max winter gust speeds, less obvious, but a clear decline in the frequency of very high gusts (>=40 m/s) at the station since the 'naughties'.




Just looking at those excelling photos that GL posted, exposure does not seem to be an issue at the Claremorris station. As I said earlier, we can reasonably check and compare Claremorris wind data against that of Athenry as there is usually not much of a difference in max gust speeds during notable events, though of course there will be exceptions.

Data from the ECA&D.