The July 25-26 1985 and August 31 2005 severe thunderstorm events: a comparison

Stundon93

Hello all. 

So I know theres been a few threads on here about the July 25-26 1985 severe thunderstorm event and the synoptic environment. I was not born for the 1985 event, but I was able to find an academic article about it, but was unfortunately only able to read the abstract, but the synoptic environment sounded eerily similar to the severe thunderstorms of August 31 2005. Of course, the precise set up for each event is not the same and there would naturally be some differences, but these are the only convective events that I know where a surface low developed over the bay of biscay and moved to southeastern Ireland (normally in these cases the surface lows are often either over northern France/southeast England). I guess my question is if indeed these 2 convective events were similar to each other? 

Unfortunately there is very little written about the August 31 2005 event, but I am sure that there are weather charts that exist for both days? It would be interesting to see what met eireann actually forecasted for the August 31 2005 events, but Met Eireann don’t seem to have an archive of their forecasts or predictions. The estofex forecast mentioned the risk of severe thunderstorms over Great Britain and eastern Ireland, but there were severe thunderstorms over much of the inland west, including the Limerick city/shannon region that afternoon, and the British isles weather diary has a brief summary of the synoptic environment for that day which included the following. 

“A thundery low pushed n from Biscay to SE Ireland on the 31st, giving a hot and thundery day for many… a cold front pushed across Ireland and w Scotland, and ahead of this some severe thundery activity developed”.

Banarol

885C32E7-BE47-4B21-B28C-492E147253C8.png

It reached 32.1C at Northolt, Middlesex on that day(31st August 2005).The southerly flow brought air from North Africa as thunderstorms broke out over the midlands and Northeast England, falls of Saharan dust were reported. In Ireland it was mainly a Shannon region event that day.

Rougies

I'm not sure what comparison you are looking for here. The July 1985 thunderstorm was an exceptional and rare event. There has been nothing since that would remotely compare in terms of severity, duration and area affected. I was alive, I was only 6 years old but I have memories of that night, both terrified and exhilarated!

BorneTobyWilde

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fggSHDe-PiE

..

Stundon93

Of course, the August 31 2005 event was nothing on the scale of the July 1985 event. I guess what i am asking is, if the 2 convective environments were similar e.g, the position of the low pressure systems, a cold front moving across the country etc.