The Beast From The East
When we moved to Ireland, we never thought we'd experience a hurricane and then Hurricane Ophelia happened. We also thought we had escaped the snowy winters of Minnesota and oh how wrong were we. To be fair, the winter in Dublin thus far has been mild compared to our frozen tundra back in Minneapolis. Our temperatures have stayed steady in the 40s F / 5-7 degrees Celsius, the grass stays green, and the few times it has snowed, it immediately melted into the ground. That was all until the worst snowstorm since 1982 hit Ireland and other parts of Europe, getting dubbed Storm Emma, or more affectionately, The Beast From The East.
The Beast From The East effectively shut down Ireland for three whole days. Snow had started falling during the night on Tuesday, February 27th and accumulated to a whopping 40 cm / 15 in in Dublin by Friday night, March 2nd. When we woke up on Wednesday, Ireland's weather service, Met Eireann, declared Leinster County, which includes Dublin, as a red weather alert and we stayed red until 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. So what does this mean? This means that schools shut down, buses / lightrails / trains don't run, businesses close, all flights were cancelled, and everyone stays inside. This also meant that Chris got to work from home Wednesday through Friday and that was a fun bonus for me! Here's a fun timeline with pictures documenting our "survival" of The Beast From The East.
Day 1 - Wednesday, February 28th:
I could NOT believe that Chris' office had closed and he was going to be working from home. They had also preemptively closed the office Thursday too. Like what?! There was MAYBE a half an inch of snow on the ground.
This so-called "storm" was laughable at this point and I could not believe how people were reacting. I found this meme that perfectly summed up what was happening:
As the morning progressed, I got news that my gym was closing, which was a huge bummer. The biggest blow though was the call from Tesco, our grocery store, that the groceries I had ordered for delivery that morning, were not coming. UGH. This made me so angry because I had such a good haul coming and I also needed to make more food for Hugo. Lucky for us, the Italian restaurant on the ground floor of our building was open and so we were able to indulge in some pizza and pasta.
In the afternoon, we headed outside with Hugo to walk around and see what other parts of the city looked like. We lasted about 5 minutes because the winds were whipping and Hugo hated it. What we had noticed was that the snow had packed down and gotten super icy with the low temperatures, which made it much more understandable why businesses were closed. [This was just another Wednesday in Minnesota, but let's be clear that Ireland does not have the vehicles and infrastructure to handle any sort of snow / ice.]
Day 2 - Thursday, March 1st:
When we woke up on Thursday, there was significantly more snow on the ground by us. We estimated it was around 3 inches. Temperatures had fallen to 30*F / -1*C and the winds were insane. I have never seen snow fall so fast in my life. We were fortunate that our little market, Fresh, was open that morning, so we popped over to get whatever food we could to get through the next couple of days since restaurants and grocery stores were all shutting down until further notice.
We were determined to get out and see Dublin on Thursday, so in the afternoon, we left Hugo at home, bundled up, and headed out ourselves. The city was a ghost town. We maybe saw a total of 30 people on our 1 1/2 hour walk and the majority of those people were photographers trying to snap the winter wonderland that was Dublin. It was pretty cool -- we felt like we had Dublin to ourselves.
Day 3 - Friday, March 2nd:
Friday was the worst day of all. The snow was relentless. I honestly don't think it stopped snowing all day. This is when my cynicism of the storm receded. There was footage of other cities around Ireland with 2-3 feet of snow -- this snowstorm had actually done what they predicted. It was complete devastation. We had lost power at some point during the night, but it was on when we woke up. Thousands were without power and water in other parts of Ireland, so we were feeling fortunate. By this point though, we were getting a bit stir crazy. Exhibit A:
Day 4 - Saturday, March 3rd:
The snow had finally stopped falling Saturday, the high was 38*F / 3*C and the snow had already started to melt. Thank goodness! Certain businesses were opening their doors too. Our favorite brunch spot, Herbstreet, opened up and we were delighted to slush through the wet snow to eat something other than non-perishable foods. The grocery stores also opened back up, so we were able to pick up a few items, and place a new order for groceries to get delivered -- yay! There were people out and about, the lightrail was intermittently running ... it was great to hear the sounds of the city again.
Hugo notoriously hates the cold and snow, but we thought maybe he'd deal with it after being cooped up in the house for 3 days. We got him bundled up and headed for the nearby park to see if we could have a little fun in the snow with him and it was a huge success! He LOVED it!
Day 5 - Sunday, March 4th:
As the weekend concludes, so does the worst of this nasty Beast From The East. We got back up to 42*F / 4*C today and the snow is on its way out. The lightrail / DART / buses were all back up and running, granted still on delays, but at least they were running. All the businesses around us were open. It was still a bit quiet around town, but we were able to get out again with Hugo and enjoy the last bits of snow.
The Irish have had a great attitude throughout this storm. I saw tons of fun videos of people making snowmen, people having snowball fights, some skiied down the streets, and a Canadian even showed off by sunbathing on her roof. It has been a crazy last couple of days and I'm thankful for my Minnesotan roots, which made getting through this storm a breeze. Now, this snow can kindly jog on so we can get on to Spring! Until then, we'll continue cozying up in the faux furs.
Cheers, xo
