Ireland braces for total shutdown as red weather warning issued for entire country

[dixiegrrrrl]

The country is facing total shutdown from 4pm today with people ordered to stay indoors, schools and colleges closed, rail and bus services halted, and motorists warned it would be “suicidal” to take to the roads.
The warning was issued as it was confirmed the “Beast From The East” and Storm Emma will clash directly over Ireland today. The Government said between 22cm and 28cm of snow will fall by tomorrow afternoon.

“We have not experienced blizzard conditions, 110km winds, since 1982, and the reports from that time indicate the serious and life-threatening conditions which may be posed from heavy snow and strong winds,” said Mr Hogan.

“Having considered the Met Éireann warning and the likely impact of the blizzard conditions, and for reasons of public safety, we are advising people should not venture out of doors when the red-level warning is in place.

“It would be suicidal to go driving in the conditions, in blizzard-like conditions. Do not be out there from 4pm."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/nation-braces-for-total-shutdown-as-red-weather-warning-issued-for-entire-country-467788.html

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. My 16-year-old great niece is currently stranded in Ireland on her way to Paris.

The airline put her in a hotel near the Dublin airport, but they're saying she won't get out until Sunday morning. She's laughing her ass off because the amount of snow wouldn't interrupt travel in Chicago, but there are no busses, trams, cabs or Uber running. By the time she gets to Paris, it'll practically be time for her to come home.

She's okay, but disapppointed.

[Hortensis]

4. Well, it's after midnight so at least she's probably

sleeping well. Glad she's comfy in a hotel.

Winds over 60 mph, if it's come to that, are pretty notable for most of us, though.

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. I certainly hope so!

I was in Dublin years ago when it was raining and the wind was so strong that the rain was sideways. Apparently the airport authority has set up cots in the terminals, but a hotel is much better.

[Hortensis]

13. Hotel with bedrooms and inside hallways is incredibly better,

even if it lacks that special emergency shelter bling.

[greatauntoftriplets]

14. And with a private bathroom and shower!

I know that I'd prefer being in a hotel. Or, in this case, in Paris where it's also been snowing.

[OnDoutside]

7. I hope she gets some time in Paris. There's a lovely brasserie not far

from the Eiffel tower, called Le Suffren, at 84 Avenue de Suffren.

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. We all hope so, too!

She's been looking forward to this trip so much.

She's a vegan so that I'm not sure that your brasserie will work for her. I held back from recommending my favorite Paris restaurant to her for that reason.

[OnDoutside]

41. Yes, forget that then ! Even if she had been a vegetarian or pescatarian, it would have been great.

[greatauntoftriplets]

46. I'm sure it would have been lovely.

I hope that she's able to find a decent vegan croissant (if such a thing exists), but to not have one with the delicious European butter is unimaginable to me.

[OnDoutside]

48. I first went to Le Suffren in 1990, and whenever I'm in Paris, it's on my go to list.

[greatauntoftriplets]

49. I hope that you are able to go back soon.

[MicaelS]

32. A lovely brasserie?

It is a D cup?

[OnDoutside]

40. :) They have (or used to) a beer called a Colossal !

[Jane Austin]

30. Is she one of the triplets?

Just wondering.

[greatauntoftriplets]

31. No, this isn't one of the triplets.

All three are jealous of their cousin, though. Well, maybe not so much right now. What the hell, I'm jealous, even of being in Dublin right now.

[Marthe48]

2. 9 to 11"

That's a lot of snow.

If they aren't used to these weather conditions, they are wise to stay in.

[OnDoutside]

5. Yes all schools closed Tuesday until Monday, as well businesses from earlier today.

The country is on lockdown and I'm off to sleep !!!

[Marthe48]

39. Let us know how you do!

If you don't have to be out in the weather, it is much easier to get through the storm

[OnDoutside]

47. We are doing good, although it is still snowing outside. The big thing for my city after this is the

thaw, with all that water, at the same time as a Spring tide, but one step at a time !

[Marthe48]

50. We just had a flood

on the Ohio River. 2 weeks ago. They predicted a worse one last weekend, but tG, they were wrong. Glad to hear from you

[OnDoutside]

54. On the Banks of the Ohio was one of my late MiL's favorite songs :)

Up there with our one here, The Banks of my own lovely Lee

[OnDoutside]

3. The problem is we normally don't see this type of weather here in Ireland

so it's not economical to build infrastructure for what maybe a once in 35 year event.

[Hortensis]

6. Right. Same in a lot of places in the U.S.,

with its wide variety of climate conditions and special problems. Now and then you'll see specialty vehicles on the interstate highways from one state to another to help fill in some deficiency.

[OnDoutside]

10. They have improved over the years, like having a sufficient amount of

salt for gritting , and have been rolling out an emergency plan all week. Their advice on just staying home seems to have been well heeded

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. The shut down seems like a great idea.

Every year here in the US there are people who ignore weather warnings, then need help to be located and rescued, which endangers other people.
Those same lamebrains think calling 911 means instant magical help, no matter the conditions.

[OnDoutside]

42. There's a touch of Darwinian theory about some people, but it's the responders who I feel sorry for.

[eleny]

35. Drifintg snow can block household funrace vents in some configurations

So just be careful about keeping any vulnerable vents free from getting clogged with drifting snow. I noticed the sustained winds you might experience so the vents came to mind. We get enough snow and wind here in Colorado that this is what we're routinely warned about.

People who have to go out in their vehicles and get trapped by snow also need to be sure their tailpipes stay clear of drifting snow. It's essential if people keep their car running so they can use their heaters. The noxious gases can back up into the vehicle.

Stay warm and safe and let us know how you are!

[OnDoutside]

43. Thanks, this is all stuff we are unaware of.

I saw this photo from Co. Offaly this morning and thought this is exactly what you meant, a 9/10 foot snowdrift.

[ProudLib72]

59. Looks like it's snowing

awfully hard there! In county Kildare, I hear the snow is at least a thigh deep!

Puns aside, I never knew it could snow like that in Ireland!

[OnDoutside]

62. It is very rare, I've lived in this house for nearly 50 years, and I've never seen this quantity of

snow. Yes I've seen maybe an inch of snow when stayed because the temp never got up high enough to thaw it, but it's the quantity that is the biggest thing for me.

The funny thing nationally, is that rather than search for snow shoes, camp lights etc, every shop in the country was sold out of bread ! There have been lots of video remarking on it, including this one of a security video where a new supply is gobbled up

[smirkymonkey]

64. Stay safe! When is the last time you have had this kind of weather?

Your winters are usually very mild, aren't they?

[ProudLib72]

65. Makes perfect sense to me

Stay inside eating sandwiches until the white stuff melts. It's a brilliant plan!

I can't recall ever seeing a snowplow in all of Ireland. We take such things for granted here in Colorado, and we have all the personal accoutrements for dealing with the weather (proper clothing, snow shovels, snow throwers, etc). Even then, a foot of snow slows us down, and any more causes closures (for a day anyway). You are going to have something to talk about for the next decade, that's for sure!

[octoberlib]

66. The same thing happens in the US. The stores sell out of bread and beer!

[Maeve]

67. In Ohio, during the blizzard of 1978, the stores were out of bread, beer, canned soup and snacks

I know--I trudged thru the snow off Ohio State's campus to buy things! (Student in a small apartment, no real storage space and didn't know the storm was coming--no tv, either!) Ate a lot of pasta that year...

[eleny]

61. We never had it that high here just west of Denver!

However, I do keep an eye on our clothes dryer vent which is low to the ground.

My husband routinely worked in rural areas and in winter he drove through snow canyons piled up on either side of the roads. He commented that it felt eerie.

Stay safe and I hope you can enjoy the beauty of it.
..... .....

[malaise]

17. True

Stay safe

[OnDoutside]

44. Thanks Malaise, much appreciated.

[moriah]

26. Yeah. I commented on a GoT Reddit thread about this (you know, winter coming and all, heh)

They had pictures of empty grocery stores, etc, and I said that happened here too, but at least the people at the stores were doing the smart thing. The people who are dumb are the ones who go out driving in it when there aren't salt trucks/plows/etc and who haven't had practice driving in those conditions.

The worst snow we had while I lived in Arkansas was 18 inches, February 9, 2011. That's the one time I called work and said "Hey, uh, I'm able to come in if someone can pick me up". But I had my Trial by Frozen Crap from a year living and driving in New York. A season gradually built into the 2003 President's Day blizzard, and I drove in while it was starting, 5 of the 30 inches it eventually dumped had already fallen but there'd already been salt out and people were sane, dividing the normally three lane highway into "patient folks" and "I have 4WD" lanes. My boss, who needed me the next scheduled shift too, saw the sense in my request to not have to drive the 30 miles back. Hotel on the company.

I would agree, especially with wind factored in, stay indoors with some Irish coffee and keep warm. Or whatever else.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

58. Infrastructure for this weather: don't you have pubs?

You have to hunker down somewhere, right?

Good luck surviving this with your humor intact.

[OnDoutside]

60. I can respond to that in one photo ;)

:large

[Maeve]

68. A bit of butter and you're set!

I know a priest that would always point to his pint and say "There's food as well as drink, there!"

Thanks for the reports!

[Cha]

8. Be Safe, Ireland!

[ProudLib72]

9. And there will still be a line outside of Burdocks

Oh, I wish I had some right now.

[leftstreet]

15. LOL

[OnDoutside]

45. The one and one !

[Dem2]

16. Coworker was showing me videos of her people in Scotland last night

Insane! Snow burying Scotland. They were code red also, she said it's never happened before.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. What's never happened, the snow or the code red?? n/t

[Dem2]

20. Not sure

We were at the bar and were both drinking and laughing at the antics of her peeps back home, who just aren't used to significant quantities of snow. I could Google it or text her, but I'm lazy.

[Denzil_DC]

22. It's the first Red Snow Alert that's been declared by the Met Office:

Of course, people tend to ignore these warnings, and as a result around a hundred of them spent the night in their cars on the A80 near Edinburgh last night (there have been strandings elsewhere in the UK as well). Glasgow airport's on shutdown and some folks are sleeping in the terminal.

It's pretty relentlessly blizzardy here in the west of Scotland, where we're just on the edge of Red/Amber, but nowhere near the most extreme weather I've experienced since I moved here (that would be a week or more of minus 20 with snow lying and clear blue skies in the late 90s). Nevertheless, barely any traffic moved in our village today, no papers etc., and I'm getting fed up of shoveling snow only to see the paths disappear again in no time.

[PatrickforO]

21. You know this is between 8" and 11" of snow...

I guess they are not used to that kind of fall within a 24 hour period.

You probably don't want to drive in the blizzard portion of the storm, yes, but hopefully they have decent plows and ice slicer.

[BigmanPigman]

23. Climate Change means Extremes

Europe and the US are two of the dozen areas on Earth that will feel it the most. I am SOOOO glad it is a scientific, liberal hoax.

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. We had 7-10 degrees higher AND lower temps all of Jan. and Feb. here.

Plotted on a graph,, against the "normal" temps, it looked like a continuous zig-zag. We'd have 70 degrees for a couple of days, then freezing couple of days, back and forth.
Very very strange.

[BigmanPigman]

28. I don't know where you live but it is that way in CA too.

Extremes in temps and precip. It is getting worse and very, very quickly. I am grateful I chose not to have kids when I was in my 20s since I would not want anyone to suffer what is coming. 100 years from now is too scary to think about.

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. We are in SW Alabama, about 90 miles north of Mobile

supposedly in the "semi-tropical" climate.

I imported Mr. Dixie who lived in So. Calif. He says, watching Cal. weather now from afar, it is not like what he remembers from his 50 years there.

My 2 very adult sons both decided, independently of each other, to not have kids, same reasons as you.
They were in their 20's also. Several decades later, they are happy with their decision, no regrets, time has proved their decision was sensible for them.
.

[Botany]

24. Melt the North Pole and bad shit happens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=125&v=LsiMRxzeNbs

[hatrack]

25. Surprise, surprise - melt the ice, fuck the jet stream and whaddya know?

Lots and lots of bad shit happens.

Shocked, shocked.

[OnDoutside]

56. Yeah...k-k-k-krazy, who knew ?

[lutherj]

29. A bit of Joyce:

A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, on the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

[SCantiGOP]

33. Wish I could write like that

[mountain grammy]

34. Thoughts and prayers from America

that's all we know how to do these days..

Hang in there, Ireland. Spring is just around the corner and my son is coming for his 50th birthday, May 1st.

[FailureToCommunicate]

36. Hunker down and pour the Jameson. Good luck from New England.

[TheFrenchRazor]

37. heh. i deliver pizzas in weather like that all the time, and i'm not really even kidding... nt

[panader0]

51. from 2010:

[snowybirdie]

52. My nephew

just arrived in Dublin to do some family genealogy!

[OnDoutside]

53. What a day for a wedding !

Not just a police escort but delivered to the church by the police !

[librechik]

55. Glasgow got hit a couple of days ago--3 ft of snow over 2 days

[OnDoutside]

57. Some more photos

Lahinch, Co.Clare



Conor Pass, Dingle, County Kerry



Deer searching for food in County Wicklow



Snowman chillin' in Killarney







Nephin Beg, Co. Mayo

[shanti]

69. They're still walking in the streets of Dublin

Have you seen the app, Earthcam? They have a cam set up that faces the Temple Bar. It shows 7:27 pm now, 30 degrees (f), and it seems they are just getting started, lol.

[Hortensis]

63. Great pictures. Kids are having more fun

than those bewildered deer.

[OnDoutside]

70. Rain wonderful Rain is here, and is busy doing its work.

The next issue is flooding ! We are in the middle of about 18 hours of continuous rain and it is clearly having an effect.

I went to a couple of re-opened local shops today and uniformly there was no milk, sausages, eggs, rashers (that's bacon to you) and of course, no bread.

The one standout feature of the last week has been a national obsession with bread, with shelves cleared as soon as they are stocked. One guy did a funny skit before the snow came, here it is

[dixiegrrrrl]

71. gluten....lol!!!

[MissB]

72. Omg that was hilarious

fer fucks sake you deserve to die

[dembotoz]

73. posted on facebook from a close friend who used to live in england

https://www.facebook.com/southendnewsnetwork/videos/1237675542978583/