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Updated March 5th 2018
Full video footage now online showcasing the epic glaze ice event at Ballyronan Marina on March 2nd in challenging conditions, filmed with DSLR with 10mm and 24-70mm lenses and Gro Pro, best watched at 1080p with volume up loud.
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The beast from the east has produced more spectacular photo opportunities, on March 1st Conor McDonald and I went winter chasing to Co. Armagh which was under a Met Office amber warning and experienced an entire day of falling snow with hour after hour of continuous falls which never eased, we had 8" at ground level which was widespread, the high was the blowing snow and local blizzard conditions which we captured exceedingly well on video in trying conditions. The following day reports came in of remarkable ice formations on the shore of Lough Neagh so I decided to document the event with Paul Martin and Nigel McFarland, we were unprepared for what we saw when we arrived at the shore - the most epic ice formations we have ever seen in our lives, the rocks, trees and branches were covered in thick glaze ice of exceptional substance sporting stunning structure, we didn't know where to point the cameras, there were extrodinary scenes everywhere, this life buoy covered in thick ice stole the show!
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Tree branches bent over under the weight of ice
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I was switching between all my lenses, wide, mid range and telephoto, icicles galore, it was like nature put on a glass show
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Climbing over slippery rocks to get dramatic angles was the order of the day, this is 10mm wide angle looking up at one amazing ice covered bush
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The scenes were spectacular, dramatic, epic, severe, and the elements we stood in were brutal with a sustained bone chilling wind from the east blasting through us while waves crashed over splashing our backs and cameras with freezing water, we were constantly wiping lenses and our hands were red with cold, at one stage I could barely press the buttons or climb back to shore as I had no feeling in my hands, however it was worth it for these.
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We later learned this last happened at Lough Neagh in 1982 making this an exceptionally rare event, I have many images and a full video clip to edit which I will post here shortly, I will also be doing a full website image report to document these last two thrilling days.
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The 'Beast From The East' has arrived bringing with it heavy snow falls and impressive accumulations for parts of England, Scotland and SE Ireland accompanied by sporadic thundersnow and even a possible tornado over Devon. For N. Ireland most of the snow has been over eastern and southern areas of Co. Antrim and Tyrone however the midlands was rather devoid of much snow, this was mainly due to the chance location of snow streamers. However if snow was just a dusting here we did get widespread freezing temperatures which produced the first dramatic ice formations I have seen in years. During the late afternoon Conor McDonald and I did a drive in search of ice formations, on the way back at golden hour we spotted an array of impressive icicles hanging from the rock cliffs adjacent to the Glenshane Pass which just had to be documented.
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All captured with the 10mm wide angle up close and personal to the formations, the light was fantastic, warm golden hour sunshine on the icicles contrasting against the clear blue sky.
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The 24-70mm was employed for this one
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Icicles and passing gritter preparing the road for the freeze to come this night when temperatures could plunge to -8C with a wind chill of -10 C. The last time I observed good icicle formations here was back in 2013.
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Much to our surprise and delight sizable portions of Lough Fea were frozen solid at the corners, the ice was perhaps 1 inch or more thick in places, it was impressive to see this since the last time this happened was 2010 (when entire lough froze) so it was certainly a noteworthy event.
Video footage of the Glenshane icicles. I plan on catching more icicle events on the days ahead and with luck more snow also so please stay tuned for updates.
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The aurora never happened, at least it never became significant enough for observers at mid northern latitudes, the CME and solar wind stream hit however the impact was weak with only a vibration stirring the magnetic field which barely increased solar wind speed levels. However since the night was clear Conor McDonald and I decided to go on a local shoot, not for aurora, but to check out a new location we found on the mountains near Tirkane and do a little test photography and perhaps shoot a star trail. We left after 23.00 UT and drove to our location then hiked up the mountain to a selection of trees we had discovered during a snow hike a few days earlier. This tree looked very nice, almost like a Bonsai to some degree with nice shape to the trunk and branches, I opened the tripod legs wide and positioned the camera as low as possible to the ground and began shooting a star trail, 10mm F/2.8 stopped down, ISO1600, 20 sec exposures. We had issues with high level cloud passing however there was nothing we could do about that, after all, this was just a location test, this is approximately 60 exposures stacked, the tree and clouds lit by town LP almost gave the scene an African feel to it.
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This tree was stunning with bare branches reaching out to the sky, it looked very atmospheric and suitably spooky, you can see the trail of 1st magnitude star Vega rising behind the distant tree on the horizon. This was 10mm F/2.8 wide open, ISO1600, 25 seconds and a stack of 50 frames, the trail was going well however cut abruptly by thick high level cloud later. It was a great experience standing on this exposed remote location upon frozen ground watching these stunning trees covered in patches of snow with the stars doing their circumpolar dance overhead.
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Conor suggested trying a black and white exposure, I hadn't tried that in a very long time so gave it a go, we side-lit the tree with a phone and it turned out very interesting indeed, great structure inside the tree, Cassiopeia to L, Ursa Minor and Ursa Major above. It began snowing heavy so we made our way back down the mountain again across a frozen tractor path then called it a night at 02.00 UT.
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On February 11th 2018 during the sixth cold spell of the season my Wife and I spent the entire day winter chasing after waking up to a stunning snow fall in Co. Tyrone. We drove all day across Glenshane and Benbradagh, had a sliding adventure on the Birren road and encountered local blizzard conditions. However despite widespread snow the sky was cloudy and light was bad and I never found any photo opportunities. After 17.00 during last light we drove to the wind farm on the hills above Garvagh and got bombarded by a sustained squall of hail and snow, when the cell passed the sky cleared revealing a stunning scene with cell and anvil surrounded by blue sky above the turbines over a winter landscape all lit by golden hour sunlight which made for a sublime convective snow scene to end the day. One page report with 10 images and 1 video clip. - REPORT.
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First report of 2018 documenting a week of winter chasing when cold spell number of five produced the best snow falls of the season to date. Featuring trucks jack knifing on the Birren road, beautiful snow curtains and drone flying over the winter landscape. The highlight was the epic night blizzard on Glenshane Pass when Conor McDonald and I encountered a terrific high speed snow event with severe winds and snow drifts on the exposed mountain road on parallel with the famous 2010 blizzard in the same area making for the most thrilling snow event we have experienced for years. One page report with 17 images and 3 video clips. - REPORT.
I have created a new facebook page dedicated entirely to this website, I'm currently transitioning from my private page to a new public page which will feature links to all my site updates, reports, forecasts and also showcase my night sky and storm photography, drone videos and time lapse cinematography. If you already follow me then please like and follow my new page and spread the word, thanks very much for - Nightskyhunter Facebook Page
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December 27th was my final storm chase of 2017 when after a relaxing Christmas my Wife and I decided to chase to the north coast to intercept cells forming on an unstable post frontal air mass, the trip was also mainly an excuse for a day of fresh air and exercise. Not expecting much we were surprised to be greeted by a stunning winter multicell cb dominating the ocean horizon, this cell exhibited impressive structure sporting dramatic curtains of cascading hail and wet snow falling over the sea making for some of the finest convective scenes of the year. The day ended with more cells at sunset which I documented via DSLR and by drone making for the perfect end to the year. One page report with 12 images and 1 video clip. - REPORT.
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Astronomy is not the only subject I'm interested in. One other such area is severe weather which will be playing a major role on nightskyhunter from now on in conjunction with my other astronomical pursuits. Check out my new N. Ireland Storm Chasing section and view the chase reports and images which detail not only storms but other phenomena such as a moonbows, noctilucent clouds and aurora displays.
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Martin McKenna
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