MET ÉIREANN IS set to replace its county-wide alerts with a new localised system from late 2026.

In response to a Parliamentary Question by Laois Fine Gael TD Willie Aird, the forecaster said it is developing a “polygon-based system that will divide the country into sub-county zones”.

This new approach will allow for warnings to be issued for specific areas rather than entire counties.

Aird said Met Éireann informed him that the new system will give “more precise guidance to communities”.

While Met Éireann said the current system is “well established, robust and aligned with international best practice”, it added that the new system will “provide clearer direction to those at risk and support more targeted emergency preparedness”.

Aird has welcomed the proposed change and remarked that the current system is “too broad for Ireland’s varied landscape and island conditions”.

He said this “often results in warnings not reflecting the actual risk on the ground”.

Aird added that Status Orange or Red alerts are sometimes issued for several counties “even though only particular areas within those counties face severe conditions”.

He said this can lead to “widespread school closures and disruption when the threshold for the higher‑level warning has only been reached in one part of a county”.

He added that the new system “will bring clarity” and “end the unnecessary disruption that blanket county warnings can cause while still giving clear safety information to the people who need it”.

“People do not live their lives by county borders,” said Aird. “Weather does not respect them either.

“This is a practical step that will help protect homes, businesses and lives.”

In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for Met Éireann confirmed that it is “progressing in the area of more localised weather warnings, via the use of polygons to represent areas under warnings”.

The spokesperson explained that this will result in a “move away from county-based warnings to a sub-county-based warning approach, which will identify where the expected impacts will be in the county”.

“This involves coordination with Local Authorities and National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) as the weather warning system is integrated into emergency management plans and procedures at national and local levels.”

Met Éireann added that the new weather warning system is part of its “overall work to improve weather services in Ireland”.