Winter 2009 / 2010 in Western Europe?

[paulster78]

Yeah ice fishing in N.Ireland! and he was using an axe to break the ice -nows theres a guy looking for trouble.

[martinastro]

Gorgeous snow falling here now.

[Padraig OBrien]

-12c here now coldest ive ever seen here

[martinastro]

Awesome Padraig!!

It is freezing tonight, I must keep an eye on the temp here, I would like to beat my record of - 10 on Christmas morning.

GFS update is giving snow for Ireland from Sun to Tues, some places it will be almost non-stop!

There's an avalanche warning out for the mountains of Ireland - first time I've ever heard of that!

[martinastro]

Here's the nutters on Lough Fea

[paulster78]

That video just makes me angry, looks like kids on the quads, with adults watching them-it only takes one area of thinner ice and disaster-Stupid

[martinastro]

I agree 100% with you Paul, the parents in this country make me sick!

A new temp record, - 15 C in Ireland  after 01.00

[paulster78]

Ive been monitoring these snow showers coming off the north coast there getting 20-30miles inland and then just dissipating, im at least 50 miles in and have seen no action yet.    If those models come off for Sun/mon Martin, Ireland could get some dumping. Say no more might jinx it

[martinastro]

I'm getting the flank of them here, more snow here as I write this, the temp is deadly cold too, even with the cloud cover. I can only imagine what it will drop to before dawn if - 15 C is being recorded already.

Fingers crossed for Sun, Mon, Tues - don't want to jink it either. Models don't show heavy snow (they might be wrong) just light to moderate, however it is long duration so could gather up nicely. Maybe time to start posting snow charts from the models tommorow. We certainly are overdue a big snowfall.

My Aunt informs me, who lives beside Slieve Gallion, that people have been sking down the mountain over the weekend -  another missed photo opp.

[paulster78]

I know what you mean I haven't been getting out nearly as much as Id like to take photographs, but thats gonna change this weekend, this kind of event might not come around for a long time again

[Padraig OBrien]

well its shivering cold here low of -12.4c here the coldest ive ever witnessed record was broken to the south of me of -15.2c just unreal and its just 2am  when you step outside the cold just cuts your breath short stings as well 4 -5 inches of snow on ground looking forward to Sunday as i live in the east of ROI

[paulster78]

Nice one Padraig what a day for you down there with good snow and record temps!!

[martinastro]

Brilliant snow fall currently ongoing over Maghera during early morning hours, it's been falling for 2 hrs and is still falling, already 3" everywhere, entire country is white, if it wasn't for the hedges it would be difficult to tell where the roads ended and the fields began. Looks amazing at night and much more substantial than forecast, could be great photo opps first light!. Looks rubbish on radar but visual it's a stunning spectacle.

[markt]

Morning folks!

Well not quite as chilly down here as you have in Northern Ireland - the mercury on my thermometer is saying -8c, which, for me in a sub urban location is pretty darn cold!

Looks like pretty much all the schools are going to stay shut again round here again today - late last night the list of schools closed today was growing, then just after 7 I got the phone call to say our school was going to stay shut today, and the chances are it will remain shut tomorrow...  It's a peculiar situation with the school closures - back in the day, regardless of weather schools would remain open.  However since then society has changed, we live in a litigious world - last winter we had a parent sue the school (and won) as their child had fallen over on the snow / ice - no malice or anything untoward, just a simple winter slip.  I have friends who work in other local schools and this sort of thing is far from an isolated incident...  With 'blame and claim' adverts plastered all over the media this becomes more and more common...

The other big issue with the school closures round here is the lack of salt.  As you'll no doubt be aware it's only the major 'A' roads that are getting griited which means the schools that are tucked away off the main road get no clearing...  The there's the school grounds themselves - it's only 5-10 years ago I remember the grit lorry, when the weather was bad, would pull onto the school site and grit the car park, access road and playground if accessible - all of which obviouslly paid a big part in keeping schools open.  This now, however, is a thing of the past.  I know our school has (had) about half a dozen bags of rocksalt, which just isn't enough tbh...

I have a slim chance today of a few wintry flurries later in the day, but I think it's safe to say the next main event we have to look forward to is sundays weather.  With little or no thaw likely to occur any precipitation that falls is likely to stick and freeze, so I suspect I may be in a similar situation come monday morning...

I find it curious to see how we will cope with this weather if it continues as is throughout the season.  The media is already doing it's 'coldest spell since 1981' headlines, and now is starting to make reference to the winter of 62/62 - where winter started with snowfall in december and abating in march...  Well if you look back at the long range forecasts for this winter from autumn last year, the forecast is playing out pretty much exactly as they said it would - if anything actually colder than forecast...  Well looking at the forecast for the winter as a whole it looks like january and february could well be the coldest months, in which case there is no immediate end to the winter freeze - yes, there may be periods where the Atlantic pushes milder air in, but if you believe the forecast the cold air is going to be the winner long term.  I wonder how we will cope?  Will make for an intersting season

[markt]

Brrr!  Just shy of midday here and a quick check of my thermometer shows a rather chilly -4c!