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A NUMBER OF popular Irish meteorology accounts have sprung up on social media in recent years, perhaps proving that Irish people really do love to talk about the weather.
Although most of the accounts appear to be run by amateur weather enthusiasts, some have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers.
In one case, a Facebook account called Ireland’s Weather Channel has even been issuing its own weather warnings to its 105,000 followers, independently of the national forecaster Met Éireann.
On 3 January, the Facebook account posted a string of weather warnings about snowfall.
The post began:
“Having carefully reviewed the overnight suite of weather models and using our experience forecasting severe winter weather Ireland’s Weather Channel is issuing a Status Red Snowfall warning across much of inland Munster, the Midlands and parts of Wicklow, with a Status Orange Snowfall warning through the Midwest, parts of Leinster and other inland areas of Munster.”
Met Éireann has not issued a Status Red warning during the recent cold snap.
Ireland’s Weather Channel is run by climate scientist Cathal Nolan, who has ambitions to create a private weather service to rival the national forecaster.
According to a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for the endeavour, Ireland’s Weather Channel “has delivered forecasts to the general public for just over a decade, providing honest, accurate forecasts to a wide audience and helping you plan for the uncertainty Irish weather can throw at us from time to time”.
Nolan asked people to consider supporting his efforts “so that we can purchase the required equipment and build a platform that will deliver higher quality forecasts free of charge to you the public, all at the touch of a button”.
The page has now stopped accepting donations after it raised €5,270.
“It’s been my dream to become a weather forecaster, ever since I was 5 years old. That dream still burns within me except now I wish to build Ireland’s first Independent forecast service,” Nolan said.
Another popular online forecaster, with accounts on a range of social media platforms, is Carlow Weather, which is run by amateur meteorologist Alan O’Reilly.
O’Reilly operates the Carlow Weather accounts out of a love for the subject. He provides weather updates and forecasts for hundreds of thousands of followers across Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky.
He started off with what he called a “cheap and cheerful” forecasting setup, but has since upgraded his weather station.
O’Reilly subscribes to weather modelling services and also uses many of the freely available ones in order to compile his data and make predictions.
As well as forecasts and updates, Carlow Weather often shares photography and videos related to Irish weather.
* The Big Snow of 2025 on the Galtees * Brothers Tom John William & their nephew Billy Cunningham along with their Hill Sheep Farming Neighbours are out on the Galtees with the last few days digging out their sheep who have been trapped in what has been the worst snow fall in… pic.twitter.com/zpv5HrSkMW
— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) January 10, 2025
Unlike Cathal Nolan of Ireland’s Weather Channel, O’Reilly does not have plans to make a career in forecasting.
“I’m a hobbyist,” he told The Journal, adding that he’s never claimed to be a professional meteorologist.
“I try and show the different possibilities” while also making things relatable to his followers.
He is critical of some of the other weather accounts when it comes to their forecasting, describing some of their reports as “scaremongering”, although he stressed that most are “very level-headed and very good”.
“There are a few accounts very similar to mine, but there are a few who like to share the worst case scenario,” he said.
“That’s on them, but some elderly people get scared” by exaggerated predictions, he said.
Although he has issues with the current county-by-county warning system, which he would like to be more geographically specific, O’Reilly said that weather warnings from non-official sources can cause confusion.
“Commenting on warnings is fine but making your own is a bit silly.”
Met Éireann’s warning system has come in for some criticism in the political sphere during the latest cold snap, which has brought heavy snowfall, treacherous travel conditions, power outages and the closure of schools.
“Issuing a status Orange low temperature warning for a temperature of -5 is crazy,” Áontu leader Peadar Tóibín said in a social media post on Wednesday.
“People should take care on the roads & mind older friends & family but this is not abnormal winter weather.”
Additionally, as Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather said, some have been critical of the fact that Met Éireann’s warnings are tied to counties.
O’Reilly pointed out that someone just over the border of a county that has a weather warning may experience the same conditions despite there being no warning for their county.
I know that the Irish people love talking about the weather,
— Peadar Tóibín TD (@Toibin1) January 8, 2025
but issuing a status Orange low temperature warning for a temperature of -5 is crazy.
People should take care on the roads & mind older friends & family but this is not abnormal winter weather.
The head of forecasting at Met Éireann, Eoin Sherlock, explained the service’s warning system on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme on Friday, when he was asked if the county-based warning system could be more accurate.
“At the moment, all the warnings are issued on a county basis, and that’s because of the Major Emergency Management Framework set up in the country,” Sherlock said.
“So we do issue warnings at a county level for that, for that reason. But the same time, if you go into our app, you get a personalised, localised forecast for your exact location, so that will give you additional information about the expected conditions for your location,” he said.
While the warnings are done on a county-by-county basis, Sherlock said that Met Éireann does sometimes offer more specific advice, such as during Storm Bert.
“We gave people a bit more indication, West Galway and West Cork, that’s where we expected the biggest impacts to be. But we do provide that information,” he said.
“And I suppose more importantly, we give this information during the National Emergency Coordination Group meetings, where we inform the local authorities where we expect the biggest impacts to be.”
He defended the issuing of orange warnings in the last week.
“We had an orange snow storm, or snow events this week, and maybe some people didn’t think it would be as impactful. But as we can see, the impacts have been very bad. Parts of the country still have snow, so that kind of validates the warning system on the county basis.”
Sherlock also said that Met Éireann is investing in new equipment that will improve their forecasting ability.
Those investments include Met Éireann’s new supercomputer and a research programme in partnership with University College Dublin focused on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
“That’s going to help us improve our weather forecasts,” Sherlock said.
Met Éireann was approached by The Journal about this article and declined to comment.
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Having driven through the snow in South Tipperary, and up through Limerick and Clare on the new Limerick-Galway motorway last Sunday, I can say that a red warning was absolutely required for the conditions that the region was inflicted with.
@Garry Coll: yes red should have been given very dangerous condition and met eire failed many many people dangerous lives
Warnings should only come from Met Eireann
@I’m a robot Robot: why would you even have to ask. It’s like saying amateur traffic channels should be able to set speed limits
@Laois Weather: One model for all, the weather says no
Amateur forecasters have no precedent to issue weather warnings. They should be ignored.
@John Doe: precedent? What’s dat mean,
@John Doe: Methinks you do not understand the words you use! Check out the meaning of “precedent”.
Peadar Tóibín being populist again. Imagine giving out about a weather warning!!! What a joke of a TD
@Caoimhin O’Connor: He’s not wrong though. We had no snow but most schools closed around us last week on account of this low temperature warning and it was simply a case of icy by roads, which are generally fine if you take it easy on them. Issuing warnings for what should be standard winter weather is excessive.
@Caoimhin O’Connor: Yup. Absolutely they should give a warning, granted most don’t need them, and may (myself included) will ignore them in favour of whatever they choose to do… but for that one octogenarian who had the first appointment in a clinic 50 miles away maybe it helps. People no offended by information thats not even FOR them!! Tobin is harming his core voter here.
@Longlin: How many people would have gotten hurt with the school open?
they took the safety first approach!
Wow riveting journalism lads
@Trump24: You probably don’t live here if this doesn’t interest you, having a disability it is essential to know the weather, especially this week.
@Brian D’Arcy: Well incorrect I do live here for a portion of the year but for tax purposes I can only be here a certain amount of days.
@Brian D’Arcy: look at the username, all you need to know about the caliber of person you’re dealing with
@Trump24: No. you can be here for as long as you choose to be. You choose to avoid paying tax here.
@Trump24: Hahaha nice bit of fantasy there, as if you reside anywhere apart from your mammys box room. You’ll need a PPS number and wash before you start paying any tax
@Minnie Mouse: Absolutely I do and it’s all above board it’s called financially smart.
@Freda Peeple: Do I care if you believe me absolutely not. Enjoy being poor.
@Trump24: it’s called talking out your hoop you big spoof. I have my own building company I’m doing ok. I can afford to pay tax here.
@Freda Peeple: Well clearly nothing worth becoming non dom for.
@Trump24: Ken/buster/chutes is another who made his fortune in America but chose to spend his life taking rot on all day on a poxy news app, what are the chances?
@Tired Jim: My jacks smells funky, I’m ok with that
@Freda Peeple: Never made my money in America
@Trump24: You don’t have a bean, be honest. if your mammy didn’t put credit on your phone we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
@Freda Peeple: You believe what you wish enjoy getting up for work tomorrow.
@Trump24: Yes I will, like I do everyday! I’m sure you won’t be thinking of me on your hammock making big business decisions.. on your bike Rodney haha
@Robert: ah hear, maybe his parents could see the future and at the same time didn’t particularly like him so gave him that name so that he would be laughed at and made fun of for his whole like till 24 when like a dream it all snapped into place and made sense well, at least till the clock struck midnight on new years and the carriage turned into a fat pumpkin with a dodgy wig.
@I’m a robot Robot: Silence troll
@Freda Peeple: Nice round of golf this morning for me hopefully the rain stays away then a light lunch in the club. Enjoy your sambos and tea.
@Trump24: Pitch and putt followed by home packed corned beef sandwiched from your mammy, enjoy! Hopefully you don’t get roasted on the course like you did on the Journal
@Trump24: Just mute these bottom feeders folks, it makes them go away.
@Tezmond McVicar: Indeed Freda is definitely a bottom feeder 100%.
@Freda Peeple: Unfortunately did rain a slight bit today but lunch was delicious in the club. Lovely crab claws today.
In fairness met eireann and experts kept telling us complete with blood red heat maps that Ireland was gonna cook during last summer from May till the end of August….there wasnt a week with the tabloid trash MSM who are more responsible than anyone for people getting angry with weather predictions when they post clickbait headlines and then the actual article is completely different. No wonder so many go elsewhere for information. Covid was a winner for the media between all the free advertising money they got and realising fear mongering headlines are actually a better thing to survive than acfual balanced reporting
@Patrick Newell: I don’t remember any expert or Met Eireann employees giving any such warning last summer.
Perhaps you imagined this due to consumption of vast quanties of illegal hallucinogenic narcotics?
@donal O’brien: Correct me if I’m wrong but every month last year was trumpeted as the hottest month on record ever on RTE on every single news cast every day. It was absolute and utter codswallop. The summer was the coldest wettest summer i have ever witnessed in Ireland in my 50 years on this earth. When people rightly questioned the validity of these claims they were told it was roasting at night when you were asleep, you couldn’t make this c r a p up.
@Michael McGrath:
On a world wide basis some group of international experts said 2024 was the hotest year on record for the world.
Met eireann said last May was the honest May on record in Ireland
They then said June was the coldest June in Ireland for the last 10 years.
March was the second wettest March on record in ireland, after March 2023.
Those I think are the monthly records exceeded in ireland last year.
@donal O’brien: I drive to work every morning in a car pool with 3 others and i can tell you it was a source of much incredulity and laughter in the car when the newscaster duly without fail reported each month as the hottest on record, that may not be what the official records state but thats what was reported on the radio, and also the statement that it was warmer at night and thats why we didnt realise it was so hot
@Patrick Newell: It absolutely should have been a red warning in the likes of North Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Kilkenny ,Tipperary and North Waterford, I live in Tipperary and I only eventually got out on Friday and even that was only after we cleared 20 yards of my drive with a shovel and rake. We got 14 inches of snow and many areas of high ground got similar. They are reluctant to issue red warnings because it has a direct implication on business and their obligations towards their workers. I heard of several stories that some employers disciplined their employees because they could not get into work because of the snow if it was a red they couldnt do that
Weather forecasts for snowflakes
They’ve studied meteorology, right?
@Robert: Yep, from Mrs Miggins’ Facebook page, like every dim bulb who DoEs HiS oWn ReSeArCh
No more frost till the end of the month, warm air from the bay of biscay
Q? What are all the snow-men on here all the week telling tall tales called? A. Snow-flakes.
LMAO, people offended by information about the weather!! if you don’t like then jog on
Because they are more accurate than met Éireann. They are a joke. Should be disbanded and their fancy building turned into apartments.
If it happens at the weekend forget about it. It seems like Met Eireann don’t work the weekends.
Both Irelands Weather Channel and Carlow Weather LOVE the attention when they get their predictions right – but can’t deal with criticisim when they get it wrong. They’re like a big sulky child. And if you criticise them on social media and call them out over duff forecasts, you just get blocked like I did. Childish behaviour IMO. Anyone can predict the weather, eventually you will be right at some stage. But Met Eireann are an absolute disgrace and should be shut down.
Met Eireann if anybody bothers to go to their website give detail explanations to all of the different situations countrywide.
I was helping a friend who was painting a pub. I was able to tell him when to go on lunch or to have a cup of tea as we were going to get rain. I had it down so well we never got wet.
If all you read are the headlines, it is your own fault if you get caught out!
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