Why bad weather is never a nice surprise
People voice their fury at Met Éireann after a spate of bad forecasts
MET Éireann argued that it did not have a ‘crystal ball’ as the forecaster came under fire for not predicting heavy snow this month.
But now it’s emerged that the meteorological service also came in for stiff criticism from farmers and others in the wake of two severe storms in January, with multiple gripes about its failure to issue strong enough weather warnings.
Copies of complaints from January reveal one person said the lack of a red warning for Dublin during Storm Isha and Storm Jocelyn could have led to a ‘loss of life’.
‘Trees could be down, and electricity cables damaged,’ said their complaint. ‘It’s very irresponsible to send people commuting to work in these conditions.’
Residents of Sligo were particularly irked that their county – and adjoining Co. Leitrim – had been left out of a red warning for much of the west coast.
One email said: ‘How could you issue [a] red warning for three counties with this and omit Sligo and Leitrim, if anyone had any geography sense?’
Another complainant wrote: ‘Just wondering why Sligo is not included in the red warning for the current storm as it’s in between Mayo and Donegal.’
Another writer was a bit more succinct in their disbelief at the exclusion of their county from the warning, saying: ‘No red warning for Sligo!!! Please explain.’
A complaint was also received from a resident of Co. Cork who started by paying tribute to the great efforts of Met Éireann in issuing daily forecasts.
However, they said the January storms were the ‘worst that I can remember’ and that there was no doubt a red warning should have been in place for the county.
‘I know there are weather models you follow, and I am sure your decisions on warnings are backed up, but something needs to change,’ they wrote.
‘I have developed an anxiety with your warnings as I never know what to expect. While the advising of a warning should be beneficial, it isn’t. I know I am not the only person who feels this way,’ they added.
One farmer in Co. Clare was unhappy that their livestock were put at risk due to the severity of rain that fell across the county.
They wrote: ‘Our roads and paths are flooded. Fields… totally flooded to the extent that our animals have to be kept inside. Surely this level of rain would warrant a rainfall warning.’
Met Éireann has also come in for recent criticism over the apparent ‘exclusion’ of Northern Ireland from some of its online content.
However, there were only two formal complaints about this, with one saying it seemed a ‘bit daft’, especially as the North is covered in TV and radio forecasts.
Another wrote: ‘I am familiar with the differences between NI and [the Republic], but at least at the level of science, protecting human life, can we not agree that a composite weather forecast for the entire island would protect more people?’
Met Éireann said it provides weather forecasts on a 24/7 basis to the public, the Government, local authorities and the emergency services.
A spokesman said: ‘Any public query arriving at the organisation is analysed and responded to, and also fed into continuous improvement processes of our services and our tools, as we are firm believers in user-centric services.’