THE DUBLIN WEATHER radar is being switched off this week – but don’t panic: we’ll still be getting weather forecasts.
According to Met Éireann, the Dublin weather radar requires maintenance and must be switched off during office hours for up to four days this week.
The work began on Monday afternoon, 24 June and the radar will be off until Thursday, from 8am until 6pm. The radar measures rain, snow and hail using radar waves, and can give an insight into the intensity of rainfall.
Met Éireann has apologised for the inconvenience and said it will return the radar to normal operation as soon as possible.
A Met Éireann spokesperson said that maintenance is a normal thing and that they scheduled it to take place on this week because there isn’t a lot of rain forecast.
He said that a lot of the forecasts come from computer models these days, and that the radar is there so the forecasters can have a look at the current rain situation.
The radar gives an indication of what’s happening in the air over Ireland, so when it is out of use, Met Éireann depends on computer models and rainfall measuring stations on the ground.
As the radar is a small part of what is happening nationally, luckily when it is switched off the forecasters still have plenty of other ways to keep an eye on the weather.
Phew.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say