Northern Ireland

Met Éireann to include north in weather warnings

Met Éireann is to include the north in weather warnings
Met Éireann is to include the north in weather warnings Met Éireann is to include the north in weather warnings

MET Éireann is to include Northern Ireland on its weather warning maps.

Head of forecasting with the Republic's meterological service Evelyn Cusack said that since taking over the role two years ago she has been aiming to include the north and that technical issues are currently being sorted out.

Ms Cusack said that information appearing on Met Éireann will be directly linked to its British counterpart, the UK Met Office, which will continue to issue warnings for the north.

Traditionally Met Éireann issues colour coded warnings for severe weather in southern counties but leaves the north shaded in grey.

Since it was founded in 1937, the Irish Meteorological Service has provided weather forecasts for the whole of Ireland and currently provides updates for over 300 locations in the north on its website.

In a proposal to the UK Met Office, Cusack said: “It would be very unusual if not unique for one National Meteorological Service (NMS) to display the warnings issued by another NMS but Met Éireann is proposing this for citizen safety and societal wellbeing.”

Under Met Éireann’s plans, orange weather warnings will be referred to as amber in the north in line with the colour coding used by the UK Met Office.

Ms Cusack said the she hopes to have new UK Met Office warnings on Met Éireann this summer, TheJournal.ie reported.

Ealier this year Sinn Féin Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile said “weather knows no borders; neither should strategies that are meant to be about communicating the very real dangers posed by emergency weather situations."