The ‘Night of the Big Wind’ in Ireland, 6–7 January 1839

Environmental knowledge and human experience: using a historical analysis of flooding in Ireland to challenge contemporary risk narratives and develop creative policy alternatives

“…This sits in contrast to coastal flooding which has occurred frequently. Reports on the 'Night of the Big Wind' in January 1839, reputed to be among the worst storms ever experienced in Ireland (Shields & Fitzgerald, 1989), describe Salthill has having been impacted by the storm but it is not clear if the damage was caused by the wind itself, coastal flooding or some combination of the two (Carr, 1993). The earliest flood reported by The Irish Times was in 1887 when the sea is described as having come up onto the land in the city.…”

Regional weather and climates of the British Isles – Part 6: Ireland

“…However, the 'Night of the Big Wind' in 1839 remains the most potent reminder of what damage-potential exists. This depression probably had a central pressure as low as 918mbar, though only a rudimentary network of instrumental observations was then available (Shields and Fitzgerald, 1989). The storm cost 250-300 lives, damaged 20-25% of the houses in Dublin City, levelled several thousand trees, drenched locations 15km inland in brine (with anecdotal accounts of herring and other fish being deposited 6km inland) and wrecked 42 ships.…”

Identification of highest magnitude coastal storm events over western Ireland on the basis of wind speed and duration thresholds

“…To help with the definition of thresholds, characteristic values were tentatively based on those provided by the signature of Hurricane Debbie, the strongest storm event recorded in Ireland (in terms of importance and geographical extent of damage to land and amenities), since the storm of 07-08/01/1839 known as the 'Night of the Big Wind' (Shields and Fitzgerald, 1988;Carr, 1993). Hurricane Debbie originated in the tropics as a tropical cyclone and sustained hurricane-force winds as it approached the Irish Coast (Cooper and Orford, 1998).…”