New England

‘Ex-Hurricane Ophelia' Makes Direct Hit on Ireland

Meteorologists in Ireland are calling it 'Ex-Hurricane Ophelia' that slammed ashore on the southwest coast of the Island early today, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. The National Hurricane center in Miami called it 'Post-Tropical Cyclone Ophelia' with sustained wind of 86 mph in it's last advisory on the storm late Sunday night.

No matter what we name it, Ireland took a direct hit from a monstrous Atlantic Storm. Hundred's of thousands lost electricity. Roofs were torn off buildings. Storm surge flooding of several feet inundated coastal communities, especially in Cork and Kerry counties in the southwest.

A famous lighthouse off the south coast, Fastnet Rock Lighthouse manged to keep it's twitter feed live throughout the storm, sending out regular weather updates as wind gusted past 100 mph. The greatest wind speed we saw came from this tweet at about 5 a.m. New England time early Monday. 

That is sustained wind of 78 knots (90 mph), with gusts to 103 knots (119 mph) from the south. Indicating that the center of the storm was making it's closet pass just west of the Lighthouse. 

The most recent notable hurricane to hit Ireland is Debbie in 1961.

Ophelia now moves into Scotland as a slowly diminishing post tropical storm. 

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