Hurricane surf in Ireland!
All schools and colleges closed in Ireland.
Nuts, they're gonna cop it!
Irish Infomercial:
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Three dead in separate incidents.
You're in the north-east, right Upnorth? Give any consideration to driving across the Irish Sea side and seeing what's happening?
Far out, I know of a place with wave that's like a certain West Coast SA left over Lennox style rocks, ocean swell nearby 18+ft in a couple of days, wind offshore.... far out
Tomorrow looks like the day stunet. Still 30mph onshore but swings offshore overnight. Cumbria has a fickle coast for waves but there are a couple of places that should love this swell, most crew heading to Wales though. I had a week away last week so it would be an unsanctioned trip for me. Reflecting on my decisions.
Hurricane Ophelia has been upgraded to Cat 3 and is currently bearing down on the unsuspecting Irish. If you believe the Euro weathermen, it's highly unusual for a hurricane to form as far east as it did, and it's unheard of for a hurricane to take a sharp northerly path.
"Only 15 hurricanes have passed within 200 nautical miles of the Azores since scientific monitoring began in 1851."
“This one [Hurricane Ophelia] is very unusual in that it has come just slightly westwards but it has taken a direct tack northwards,” Met Éireann forecaster Evelyn Cusack said.
“Why it has developed so far east is probably due to a combination of reasons to do with the gulf stream, the jet stream. I can’t pinpoint one particular reason at the moment.”
Ireland's southern counties - Kerry, Cork, Waterford, and Wexford, in particular - will receive the direct hit of swell.
Here's Swellnet's surf forecast for Tramore in County Waterford. Just shy of 27 feet this arvo, abouut three feet tomorrow arvo, then flat the day after that.
Similar readings are found across the St George's channel in Wales, though that coastline is better aligned to handle the strong sou-westerly winds accompanying the swell. Mid-Wales all the way up to Snowdonia National Park - yeah, where the wavepool is - will have an afternoon of XXL surf, with, you could assume, car loads of surfers hunting for protected corners.
The south-west swell will push up into the Irish Sea toward the Isle of Man and the southern Scottish coastline. We have no data points for there 'cos it so rarely gets swell.
Here's the wind graphic for Ophelia.