There’s been a load of chat in the media this week about a weather bomb – basically just a deep and deepening depression rolling across the North Atlantic towards Europe.
They’re actually a fairly regular feature of our weather on these islands – but add the word bomb onto many things these days and you’ve got yourself a craze.
Bare in mind the term weatherbomb has been around since the early 1980s. It describes a depression which decreases in pressure by 24mb in 24 hrs (thats about 0.35 PSI – a typical car tyre is inflated to 30 PSI !!!).
Once the weather calms down over the next couple of days and our beaches re-open, large waves may have dramatically changed the appearance of our beaches, particularly the front of the dunes. This change is likely to be temporary and any changes will largely recover over the coming spring, summer and autumn season.
Because of the dramatic short-term change in the appearance of our beaches, members of the public quite often contact their local beach management authority with legitimate concerns. Within the Causeway Coast and Glens area this is usually Limavady, Coleraine, Moyle and Larne Councils. In 2014 each of these councils worked with CCGHT to develop a beach management strategy for the Causeway Coast and Glens area. Before contacting these local authorities it might be useful to have a look at this strategy. In most instances this will answer many of your questions and give an indication of councils preferred approach to a particular issue.
A copy of the Beach Management Strategy can be found here