How's the weather?

[Greengoop]

Got snow yesterday in Germany! Hope the UK gets the same luck

[Steo]

It's actually supposed to snow here tonight and possibly tomorrow. You don't usually get a lot of snow in Ireland, aside from that time in 2018 where there was a lot of it for a couple of weeks. The country basically shuts down when there's snow, where Scandinavian's are prepared for it all and everything will continue as normal.

[The Jonster]

Depending on your circumstance that can be a blessing. While I suppose being on the clock is worse than having time off completely, I'd take it over having to trek to the office in these depressing days...

(I'm really hoping for snow my end)

Next week is to be absolutely dire, with frost, snow, sleet, and whatever other calamity you dare to imagine. Fifteen years ago it meant I got a few extra days off school. Now it potentially means I'll be spending the coldest most depressing days of the year working from home. Fantastic…

Hmmm I am now curious to know why January is depressing for people. I actually would find March and April more depressing, for various reasons (like my allergy flare up, for instance)

It’s honestly unlikely for me to get snow. Maybe more freezing rain/sleet given the humid subtropical nature of this place.

[PluMGMK]

Hmmm I am now curious to know why January is depressing for people. I actually would find March and April more depressing, for various reasons (like my allergy flare up, for instance)

I mean, it's a well-known and documented phenomenon. It's really cold and dark, but Christmas is basically over so it's back to the grindstone and nothing in particular to brighten it up. I've spoken before about how the decorating and celebrating used to start much closer to Christmas itself than it does now in its commercialized form, and then there was a more leisurely scale-back through the month of January ("Long Christmas"). Well, that's still how we do it in this house, but the message from the media and colleagues is "it's over now, back to work" despite the cold and dark

EDIT: Yeah, and I just hate working from home tbh. Too many bad memories of Covid, not to mention being on my own back during college working on my project. And if our pipes freeze, then my being at home will place an extra burden on limited water supply

[Greengoop]

Covid was fun for me, up until the point where they introduced E-Learning. Then I just wanted to go back to school, sorta

[The Jonster]

Ah I see, now it makes. My dad’s birthday happens during January so it’s not too depressing for me personally (at least, not yet, and let’s hope it will not be the case).

[PluMGMK]

Aaaaaaaaaand now we've got an eighteen-hour power outage!

[Steo]

Aaaaaaaaaand now we've got an eighteen-hour power outage!

What happened to cause that?

Apparently there's snow in Carlow but it's only raining in Dublin.

And if our pipes freeze, then my being at home will place an extra burden on limited water supply

I don't think that's ever happened in our house. I have had it happen in school prefabs as a kid of course. I have no idea how Sweden doesn't have this happen when it's minus 26 outside on a bad day etc.

[Greengoop]

Aaaaaaaaaand now we've got an eighteen-hour power outage!

Woah, it seems you guys in Ireland get power outages all the time. I think I’ve gotten one 5 times during my entire life

[The Jonster]

Heard there’s going to be a cold front coming and things will be really cold tomorrow. HOORAY!!!

[Greengoop]

Heard there’s going to be a cold front coming and things will be really cold tomorrow. HOORAY!!!

How cold we talking, exactly?

[PluMGMK]

Well I'm finally back online! Yesterday we actually had power for about ten hours from 4:40 to 14:40, but I stupidly spent most of that time in bed and didn't get all my stuff fully charged

What happened to cause that?

As far as I can tell it's snow weighing down 10-kV conductors and causing intermittent contact with trees or other obstacles. After yesterday I don't feel the ESB really have a handle on what's going on, so it may go again before the snow melts

And if our pipes freeze, then my being at home will place an extra burden on limited water supply

I don't think that's ever happened in our house. I have had it happen in school prefabs as a kid of course. I have no idea how Sweden doesn't have this happen when it's minus 26 outside on a bad day etc.

I guess the pipes are well-insulated and the water is kept at a reasonable temperature in the pumping station? At the moment our pipes probably (hopefully) aren't frozen, but our local pumping station is still affected by the power outage, so…

Woah, it seems you guys in Ireland get power outages all the time.

In fairness they used to be a lot more common where I live. After Storm Darwin in 2014 we went for about nine years without one… But in terms of how common they are in general, I mean, see for yourself…

[Steo]

As far as I can tell it's snow weighing down 10-kV conductors and causing intermittent contact with trees or other obstacles. After yesterday I don't feel the ESB really have a handle on what's going on, so it may go again before the snow melts

Ah right you must have had a lot of snow down there. I literally haven't seen any snow in Dublin, but even Carlow and Wicklow had snow. I seen on powercheck that night, that a lot of the southern part of the country had power outages.

I guess the pipes are well-insulated and the water is kept at a reasonable temperature in the pumping station? At the moment our pipes probably (hopefully) aren't frozen, but our local pumping station is still affected by the power outage, so…

That makes sense, I didn't think about that. We have lost water a few times in the big freezes but that was due to them turning the water off to conserve it since it was extremely limited. This was probably about 12 years ago or something, I can't remember exactly when now off the top of my head.

Woah, it seems you guys in Ireland get power outages all the time.

To be honest we don't get them that much where I am anymore. As a kid we used to get them an awful lot and it was very annoying. Then the power would just keep going on and off repeatedly. It wasn't very fun.

In fairness they used to be a lot more common where I live. After Storm Darwin in 2014 we went for about nine years without one… But in terms of how common they are in general, I mean, see for yourself…

I remember that storm. I just remember it being very windy here and us having to take the plant pots down near the front door. I remember it's when Fortnite was relatively new and I was actually trying to play it on PS4.

Anyway I was just very surprised that we never lost power, but some parts of the country went days or weeks without power due to the damage caused by the storm. Tramore even had the sea wall cave in at one part and the road actually collapsed.

[The Jonster]

Heard there’s going to be a cold front coming and things will be really cold tomorrow. HOORAY!!!

How cold we talking, exactly?

Close to water’s freezing point. Probably not as cold as it could get up further north but yeah

[PluMGMK]

Anyway I was just very surprised that we never lost power, but some parts of the country went days or weeks without power due to the damage caused by the storm. Tramore even had the sea wall cave in at one part and the road actually collapsed.

Oh wow, I'd forgotten all about that! Exactly eleven years ago, today…

[Steo]

Oh wow, I'd forgotten all about that! Exactly eleven years ago, today…

Pretty crazy stuff. I remember it so much because I literally stayed in the apartments right there on that street where it happened a few times, back when they used to rent them out. I don't think they do anymore. I of course wasn't there during the storm to see it, but I did go there that summer and see them still reinforcing the wall and repairing all the damage.

[The Jonster]

It will be even colder the beginning of next week. Might be getting snow on Tuesday, which is becoming less of a rare occurrence as of late since it’s happened at least once a year lately around this time but I’m still excited!

[DaveRattlehead]

It feels so good to be out home with this hecking cold weather...

[The Jonster]

So last night it did in fact snow, so this morning I was greeted with a window view of a city of snow. Wheeeeeee

[Steo]

We have a storm coming named "Storm Éowyn". It's apparently going to be red warning here for wind from 6AM until 12PM tomorrow. There's still an orange warning from 2AM and until well after 12PM also. Apparently during the red warning the winds in some parts of the country are supposed to hit record speeds, and it's reported to expect excess of 130km/h with much higher gusts from time to time. I see a lot of the west of the country already has no power well before the worst of it even hits.