SEE PHOTOS - Ireland's big freeze Christmas week
Read more: Irish white Christmas brings air travel chaos - SEE PHOTOS
This has been the coldest start to winter for the last 130 years, when records began. According to Met Eireann, Ireland’s meteorological service, December has officially been the coldest month ever on record.
Last Monday County Mayo recorded low temperatures of -17.2C (1F).
The latest snap is expected to last beyond Christmas Day and a thaw is expected to set in slowly on St.Stephen’s Day December 26th.
Even then there will be heavy rains and high winds, and driving conditions will be even more risky say the experts.
Dublin Airport was closed again yesterday for most of the day when an unexpected snow storm hit.
The weather continued to play havoc with effort to get home for Christmas by thousands coming from America, Australia and many other destinations.
In New York and Boston and Chicago Aer Lingus were warning passengers to check with the airline before departing for the airport as yesterday’s unexpected storm had again thrown schedules up in the air.
The cold snap all around Europe has once again raised questions about whether global warming is real or a manufactured threat.
However, despite the frozen European continent, according to NASA the world has never been so warm. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies has said that 2010 is set to be the third warmest year on record with 2009 in second place.
Although this might sound impossible as Ireland’s airports are closed and roads blocked with snow climatologist, John Sweeney, head of the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units at NUI Maynooth, told the Irish Independent that this is because people confuse weather for climate.
He said "What's happening in Europe is a very small proportion of the globe so we shouldn't imagine that there's a contradiction between a global trend that is very substantial and a short-term weather event, which although very severe, is confined to a small part of the globe.
"Winters tend to go in cold clusters in Ireland, we had one last winter and we have one this winter. We may have one next winter but it doesn't alter the overall trend of the globe as a whole," he said.
He said the freeze was related to changes occurring in the jet stream, which is the weather system that brings mild and moist whether to Ireland.
Mr Sweeney said "2010 has been characterized by a jet stream which is much more loopy and wave-like and when that happens we tend to get a lot of anomalies so we've been having extremely strange conditions…If current conditions were to be replicated in July or June, with the same kind of wind directions and wind strengths we would have a heat wave.”
SEE PHOTOS - Ireland's big freeze Christmas week
Read more: Irish white Christmas brings air travel chaos - SEE PHOTOS
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.peterson | Sep 12, 2011, 02:22 PM EDT
I think the "global" warming is caused from all the hot air expelled from our politicians !!!
Bairbre | Dec 27, 2010, 10:55 AM EST
ciarrai "Yeah, jdi2269 (that doesn't sound Irish), just because you and geniuses like you have fixated on the term "global warming" and Ireland is having a terribly cold spell, Al Gore should humble himself and admit that he blew it... Any idiot can see that man has had a negative effect on planet Earth." Yes, another hate sprewing speech from a typical enlightened, tolerant, peace loving, stuck on mantra, brainwashed, Fox bashing Liberal. Isn't that basically what you said to jdi2269, only on the liberal side? Now that really contributed to a good discussion and you felt so much more superior, didn't you? You have performed your marching orders well in lock step! Hate did not come into this discussion until you. Can't you have an intelligent discussion without hate, demagoguery and putting someone down? Science and Man is ever questioning which is why we are not in caves.
londonirish1965 | Dec 27, 2010, 10:09 AM EST
Greenland was once a green and fertile land -before centuries of global cooling ending in circa 1750 iced it over.Now after a few centuries of natural global warming we are entering a natural cooling cycle-climate change is normal,don`t panic,the world didn`t end in 2000 either.
londonirish1965 | Dec 27, 2010, 10:04 AM EST
Global warming -the biggest scam ever.
jdi2269 | Dec 26, 2010, 11:12 AM EST
DON'T TELL AL GORE !!!!
seagreen | Dec 26, 2010, 08:07 AM EST
I'm sure there there may be some warming in parts of the world due to vehicle and industrial exhausts, however the arctic (cannot speak for the antartic)ice is not going away. The Greenland Ice Cap may show some retraction in some areas, but that is due to wind direction and moisture. The temperature in West Greenland has not risen in the past decade. The reason for slightly warmer temperatures there, is because of the West Greenland current, which ias an appendage of the Gulf Stream. Showing Ice breaking off the glacier in May is something that happens every year for the past two thousand years. It makes good promo for scientific grants, and other ulterior motives for governments that want to get a piece of Greenland. I'm in Greenland every year (11 of the past 13). Another fallacy about the ice cap melting. " coastal areas will be twenty feet under water" If the entire Greenland Ice Cap melted, it would raise the level of the worlds oceans approxamately seven to eight inches
sirpeter | Dec 26, 2010, 06:31 AM EST
All snow gone in Cork..yayyy!!!
ardgehane | Dec 25, 2010, 03:01 PM EST
Everybody complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it.
paricaliswishes | Dec 25, 2010, 01:15 PM EST
DUBLIN OUTSIDE my windows is a hard slush -3 C brownish and not pretty at all.We have no available footware accessories in the shops. AGAIN this year and the thaw soon we won't be prepared for that either.Whatever it is we are rarely prepared for it.
vinniedablade | Dec 25, 2010, 11:11 AM EST
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies is hardly the bible on Global Warming. Its director, James Hanson is nothing more than a self promoting charlatan making mega-bucks pushing this hoax on the world with his buddy Al Gore. In another life he was probably a used car salesman. Let’s see, since we once banned the alleged source of global cooling, CFC’s and now witness the alleged rise in global temps due to HFC’s, perhaps the silver bullet in forever stabilizing our planet is an equal combination of both CFC’s and HFC’s…..with a little extra dash of either one where necessary.
paricaliswishes | Dec 25, 2010, 07:23 AM EST
It might be the gombeens in bp but that's not certain yet but a good guess anyway.
Towngate | Dec 25, 2010, 04:32 AM EST
GREAT PHOTO of the Polar Bear on his way to An Dail to pick up some extra blubber.
seamusmoore | Dec 24, 2010, 03:00 PM EST
haikued2 you are always a voice of moderation and sanity on this board. One thing that has always given me pause about global warming/climate change alarmists' claims is this: If the earth was in an ice age (the last of 5 such periods) 20,000 years ago, have we not had continual global warming/climate change since then. The internal combustion engine (allegedly a climate change catalyst) was not mass produced till the late 19th century, so blaming it as a cause of climate change appears specious at best.
FatherVol | Dec 24, 2010, 01:15 PM EST
"Coldest Winter in 130 Years" is a very misleading headline. Poor ediorial skills.
joanmoody | Dec 24, 2010, 12:48 PM EST
It may be snowing and cold in most places but where I like in Texas we are in drought condition and sure could use some of the snow and rain.
haikued2 | Dec 24, 2010, 12:48 PM EST
My, we have a religious war going on....Manmade Global Warming or Manmade Climate Change vs those who have different OPINIONS about the THEORIES that have been put forth to explain what is more likely another cycle the earth has experienced throughout its existence.
Rwnevnstr | Dec 24, 2010, 12:24 PM EST
The Gulf Coast current loop is destroyed by BP's oil spill and sinking of the oil with corexit. The warmth Europe received from this current is LONG GONE. The Royal Crown did more environmental damage in one event than the entire planet full of carbon-breathing human beings ever could. Its too bad that its only Americans, their wildlife, and their coasts that are going to bear the effects of the corexit. I feel it is very unfortunate that Ireland has to suffer becoming a New Siberia because of your overlords.
ciarrai | Dec 24, 2010, 12:22 PM EST
Yeah, jdi2269 (that doesn't sound Irish), just because you and geniuses like you have fixated on the term "global warming" and Ireland is having a terribly cold spell, Al Gore should humble himself and admit that he blew it. On the contrary, Einstein, think "climate change" and you will see the situation for what it is. Stop watching Fox News and listening to the conservative nuts on the radio who earn $30 million a year because of people like you who believe these organizations and individuals who give out non-stop misinformation. "Climate change" is the mantra you will exchange for "global warming" and then you will begin to come out of your haze. Any idiot can see that man has had a negative effect on planet Earth. Maybe, just maybe, it has resulted in climate change. Focus less on exposing the bogeymen the right has dreamed up and more on ways the planet can be improved and saved. If this doesn't make any sense to you, you are ready to vote for Sarah Palin. In which case, I wish you a lot of luck.
adrienrain | Dec 24, 2010, 12:21 PM EST
This is where I say that climate change influences the Gulf Stream and others. And that the Gulf Stream is responsible for Northern Europe being warm as it has been, but when it slows or stops - as some thing it will, cue to climate change, Europe will be back in the Ice Age. But then we all know that science is an anti-Christian plot and Adam had a pet dinosaur, etc.
kaydog1 | Dec 24, 2010, 12:12 PM EST
Yes, that's right folks, there's snow everywhere in America and Europe, and last year was the previous snowiest on record, but never fear, the IRISH CENTRAL is quick to quote some Gov't climate hacks saying essentially, "Who are you going to believe, us Progressive global warming Nazis or your own lying eyes?" Two years ago, these SAME liars were saying "Global Warming" was responsible for the LACK of snow that year, but now the PRESENCE of snow should somehow not signal a lack of faith in supposed Global Warming. Nice of you at the IRISH CENTRAL to hew to the Progressive Gov't line, but that particular ship has sailed, and blather like "You're all to stupid to tell the difference between CLIMATE and WEATHER, so we're still right and the seas will boil tomorrow!" will only convince existing Obamabots. Anyway, Al Gore already sold his interest in the Chicago Carbon Credits Trading Market he owned with Obama, selling out for a pretty penny to a group of venture capitalists, and Al Gore continues to ride about in a huge private jet, in a limo he leaves running during his speeches, and to live in a mansion estate the size of a village. Yet Fat Al has the nerve to tell everyone ELSE to diminish THEIR carbon footprint. It is not just hypocrisy, folks - a true believer just would not act that way!! The simple fact is that Al Gore, better than anyone, knows that it is all a scam. CHEERS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE (and that means especially to you filthy, lying Commie Progressives!!! - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!)
jdi2269 | Dec 24, 2010, 11:05 AM EST
SHOULD AL GORE RETURN HIS RIDICULOUS AWARDS???
cboudeman | Dec 24, 2010, 10:42 AM EST
Another of God's miracles---or is that sense of humor?? Who knew??
miketheminer | Dec 24, 2010, 10:04 AM EST
obviously Al Gore was right. Global Warming!
cillowen | Dec 24, 2010, 09:28 AM EST
a switch on where they're headed.
cillowen | Dec 24, 2010, 09:27 AM EST
cooooold
fisherperson | Dec 24, 2010, 09:15 AM EST
ATT Spellchecker person: Change "whether" graph 12, to "weather". Merry Christmas all!!