County-wide weather warnings to end under new Met Éireann system

Weather warnings won’t be issued on a county basis from the end of this year.

Met Eireann is planning to move to a “sub-county” based approach, and aiming to give more localised warnings within counties.

The system will be “more relevant to communities” according to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which says it “will provide clearer direction to those at risk and support more targeted emergency preparedness”.

Founder of Ireland’s Weather Channel, Cathal Nolan, says the change is long overdue: “It’s an operation in many other European countries in terms of just how granular the detail is, been broken down into kind of community by community basis, and certainly it’s something that we very much welcome.”