seamus dubhghaill

Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Category Archives: Weather


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The Shipwrecks of the Trevor and Nonpareil

Two hundred passengers are lost in the shipwrecks of the brigs Trevor and Nonpareil on October 20, 1775. Among the casualties are The Hononorable Major Francis Caulfield, Member of Parliament (MP) for Charlemont, his wife, and daughters. Also lost is John French, Member for Roscommon County.

On Thursday, October 19, 1775, the brig Trevor, with Captain William Totty at the helm, and the brig Nonpareil, with Capatin Samuel Davies, sail from Parkgate for Dublin. That evening, as the vessels are near Holyhead, the wind shifts about from the south southwest to the west, and so violent a hurricane arises that they cannot carry any sail, but are obliged to lie to, and drive before the wind. In this situation, the Trevor drives upon the banks near the Lancashire shore, and is totally lost.

Everyone on board perishes, except Samuel Fairclough, a mariner, who miraculously saves his life by leaping aboard another vessel named the Charming Molly, under Captain Joseph Holloway, which is transporting coal from Chester to Newry. The Charming Molly accidentally runs foul of the Trevor and carries away the Trevor‘s fore-topmast and, at the instant the two vessels come together, Fairclough makes his leap. He was the only survivor of the 30 to 40 passengers and crew aboard the Trevor.

Captain Holloway states that his vessel and the Trevor came together at some distance from the coast. They parted at the time Fairclough jumped across, and the Trevor subsequently went to pieces. A great many chests, boxes, some of which are broken, and quantities of East India goods are strewn along the shore, all wet with salt water. These items are in the custody of Mrs. Hesketh, Lady of the Manor of this coast, secured by Mr. Standen of Rossall Hall. The East India goods had arrived by land from London. The cargo and coins aboard the Trevor are estimated to be worth £15,000.

The Charming Mary runs ashore at Blackpool with most of her sails carried away, but otherwise with little damage.

The Nonpareil is lost in the storm between Parkgate and Dublin, driven on shore near Hoyle-sands and lost. There are no survivors. The wife of Captain Davies states that her husband sailed from Parkgate with very low spirits as he did not like the appearance of the weather. He is pressured to put to sea, which he does, and is turned back twice, but gets off on the third attempt, and is never seen again.

Between them, the Trevor and the Nonpareil reportedly carry nearly 200 passengers, the majority being on the Nonpareil. They carry cargo valued at £15,000.

On Tuesday evening, October 24, the Collector of the port of Chester receives the melancholy account of the loss of the Trevor by a letter from the Collector of Poulton, in Lancashire. This is immediately communicated to the Merchants, who are concerned in shipping the cargo, and they set out as soon as possible to give assistance and to secure each part of the cargo as might come ashore.

The merchants from Chester reach Poulton late on Wednesday night, October 25. The following morning they set out along the shore from Blackpool, where the Charming Mary is stranded. The greatest part of the hull of the Trevor lay scattered along the shore at a great distance. On their arrival at Rossall Hall, about six miles from Blackpool, they have the satisfaction to find that Mr. Standen, who is Steward of the Manor of Bold Fleetwood Hesketh, now a minor and son to the deceased Fleetwood Hesketh, on whose estate the wreck is taken up, has taken all possible care of everything that can be saved from plunderers.


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Storm Eva Cuts Power to 6,000

On December 24, 2015 the Electricity Supply Board networks says that around 6,000 customers are without power as a result of Storm Eva. The worst affected areas are Fermoy in County Cork and Kilcoole in County Wicklow. High winds and heavy rain batter the west and northwest as Storm Eva moves across the country.

Storm Eva, also called Chuck, Staffan and other names, is the fifth named storm of the Met Office and Met Éireann‘s Name our Storms project. Heavy rainfall from Eva occur around three weeks after Storm Desmond had brought severe flooding to parts of Northern England, exacerbating the ongoing situation. The low pressure is named Chuck by the Free University of Berlin and Staffan by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute.

Eva is the fifth storm to be officially named by Met Éireann on December 22, 2015. An orange wind warning is issued for counties Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal on the same day. Gales are also expected in the northwest of the United Kingdom, with storm force winds over parts of the Outer Hebrides. There are fears that the storm could cause further disruption to Cumbria in England, where areas were already dealing with the aftermath of flooding from Storm Desmond and in some cases had been flooded twice already. The army and Environment Agency staff are called in to be on stand-by to bolster flood defences.

Rain associated with the passage of Eva causes disruption when rivers burst their banks in the Cumbrian towns of Appleby-in-Westmorland, Keswick and Kendal on the December 22. Appleby-in-Westmorland receives three to four feet of flood water. The village of Glenridding is flooded for the third time in the month. Six thousand houses in Ireland are left without power. In London, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Liz Truss convenes a Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) meeting to decide on emergency measures, which include the deployment of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment to the affected areas. On December 24, flood defence gates are closed in Carlisle, Keswick and Cockermouth to limit the damage expected from rainfall and 20 water pumps and two kilometres of temporary flood barriers are transported to northern England. Ferries operating between Dublin and Holyhead are cancelled due to bad weather on the Irish Sea.


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The 1947 Blizzard

blizzard-of-1947The worst blizzard in living memory hits Ireland on February 25, 1947. The penetrating Arctic winds had been blowing for several weeks. Munster and Leinster had been battling the snows since the middle of January.

On the evening of February 24, a major Arctic depression approaches the coast of Cork and Kerry and advances northeast across Ireland. By morning, Ireland is being pounded by the most powerful blizzard of the 20th century. The winter of 1946-1947 is the coldest and harshest winter in living memory. Temperatures rarely rise above freezing and the snows that have fallen across Ireland in January remain until the middle of March.

Worse still, all subsequent snowfall in February and March simply piles on top of all that has previously fallen. There is no shortage of snow that bitter winter. Of the fifty days between January 24 and March 17, it snows on thirty of them.

“The Blizzard” of February 25th is the greatest single snowfall on record and lasts for almost fifty consecutive hours. It smothers the entire island in a blanket of snow. Driven by persistent easterly gales, the snow drifts until every hollow, depression, arch and alleyway is filled and the Irish countryside becomes a vast ashen wasteland.

Everything on the frozen landscape is a sea of white. The freezing temperatures solidify the surface and it is to be an astonishing three weeks before the snows begins to melt.

(Pictured: Snow drifts on Main Street, Boyle, County Roscommon, February 1947)


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Hurricane Debbie Strikes Ireland

hurricane-debbieHurricane Debbie, the most powerful cyclone on record to strike Ireland in September and possibly the only tropical cyclone on record to ever strike the British Isles while still tropical, makes landfall in Ireland on September 16, 1961.

The fourth named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Debbie originates from a well-defined tropical disturbance that is first identified in late August over Central Africa. Tracking generally westward, the system moves off the coast of Senegal on September 5 into the Atlantic Ocean. By this time, it is estimated to have become a tropical storm, but forecasters do not issue advisories on the system until two days later. Late on September 6, Debbie passes through the southern Cape Verde Islands as a strong tropical storm or minimal hurricane, resulting in a plane crash that kills 60 people in the islands. Once clear of the islands, data on the storm becomes sparse and the status of Debbie is uncertain over the following several days as it tracks west-northwestward and later northward. It is not until a commercial airliner intercepts the storm on September 10 that its location becomes certain. The following day, Debbie intensifies and reaches its peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, with maximum winds of 120 mph.

Maintaining its peak intensity for over a day, the hurricane gradually slows its forward motion and weakens. By September 13, Debbie’s motion becomes influenced by the Westerlies, causing the system to accelerate east-northeastward. The system passes over the western Azores as a minimal hurricane on September 15. At this point, there is uncertainty as to the structure of Debbie, whether it transitions into an extratropical cyclone or maintains its identity as a tropical system. Regardless of which takes place, the system deepens as it nears the British Isles, skirting the coast of Western Ireland on September 16. Shortly thereafter, the system is confirmed to have become extratropical as it continues towards the northeast.

Striking Ireland as a powerful storm, Debbie brings record winds to much of the island, with a peak gust of 114 mph measured just offshore. These winds cause widespread damage and disruption, downing tens of thousands of trees and power lines. Countless structures sustain varying degrees of damage, with many smaller buildings destroyed. Agriculture experiences extensive losses to barley, corn, and wheat crops. Throughout Ireland, Debbie kills 18 people, twelve in the Republic of Ireland and six in Northern Ireland. It causes $40–50 million in damage in the Republic and at least $4 million in Northern Ireland. The storm also batters parts of Great Britain with winds in excess of 100 mph.

The remnants of the storm later turned eastward, striking Norway and Russia, before dissipating on September 19.