Evelyn Cusack: ‘Social media forecasters - stop issuing your own weather warnings. It’s an official

10-10-20 · 10-10-20

Evelyn Cusack: ‘Social media forecasters - stop issuing your own weather warnings. It’s an official thing. You don’t want someone sitting in their front room doing it’

For decades, meteorologists and friends Evelyn Cusack and Séamus Walsh kept the Irish public informed about the forecast at Met Éireann. Now – as they launch a book all about the weather – the pair discuss how climate is changing from a local to a global concern, their despair at fossil-fuel driven policies and their hopes for the future

https://www.independent.ie/weather/evelyn-cusack-social-media-forecasters-stop-issuing-your-own-weather-warnings-its-an-official-thing-you-dont-want-someone-sitting-in-their-front-room-doing-it/a2034124549.html

Jeez - the claws are out. 🤣 I'll gladly take a red warning off the group here. 😆

DayInTheBog · 19-10-2025 05:35PM

Another weather book, you'd think they could write something else. Perhaps a book on earthquakes 😁🫣

midlander12 · 19-10-2025 05:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058426954/evelyn-cusack-social-media-forecasters-stop-issuing-your-own-weather-warnings-it-s-an-official

Your man from Carlow Weather is pretty good and not unduly alarmist.

BENDYBINN · 19-10-2025 07:38PM

Putting Joanne in her place..

alentejo · 19-10-2025 07:40PM

Carlow weather comments on weather warnings (respon

alentejo · 19-10-2025 07:45PM

Sorry, last post appeared to have posted by accident. What i meant to post is that Carlow weather comments on weather warnings but does not issue them . Carlow weather gives a very informed commentary on the weather. Carlow weather is always very responsible commenting on any impending adverse weather!

monseiur · 19-10-2025 08:00PM

Is this the same Elelyn Cusack that got it sooooooooooooo wrong at the ploughing championship some years ago😒 She's so full of sh#t

DellyBelly · 20-10-2025 09:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123919803#Comment_123919803

Yeah he's one of the better ones. He does seem to get a lot of tv/radio exposure on the likes of Virgin and Today fm/newstalk for some reason which always surprises me. NOt sure RTE ever have him on and use the more reliable MEt Eireann when talking about the weather

Quantum Erasure · 20-10-2025 09:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123920838#Comment_123920838

does seem to get a lot of tv/radio exposure for some reason which always surprises me

He got big on Twitter (don't know if he's on other social media), you're not going to go viral posting on boards...

Oscar Bravo · 20-10-2025 02:42PM

Plonker

Quantum Erasure · 20-10-2025 04:23PM

I don't know

@CarlowWeather Former head of forecasting in Met Éireann Evelyn Cusack says it could be 20 years time before weather warnings are more granular than county by county. Something the UK Met Office already do. I hope current Met Éireann management are a little more ambitious!

You'd think they'd be able to differentiate between 'coastal' and inland regions at least,

expectationlost · 20-10-2025 04:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123922280#Comment_123922280

The question is can he?

Keplar240B · 20-10-2025 04:56PM

If they can give a warning for micro counties like louth & Carlow etc, why can't they split up the bigger counties ?

Cork is like ~170 km long

Quantum Erasure · 20-10-2025 05:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123922395#Comment_123922395

His warnings don't carry official weight, ie. red warning means all schools close etc. so he can draw a line on a map without regard to county (or Eircode or local electoral area) boundaries, without having to worry about communicating to the whole country, 'this area: ok; this area: not ok'...

Tzmaster90 · 21-10-2025 07:47AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123921933#Comment_123921933

i am guessing you don't like his forecasting why ?

Thunder87 · 21-10-2025 08:20AM

It's a free country.. Met Eireann don't have a god given monopoly on weather forecasting any more so than any other public service can't have private alternatives, e.g. just look next door in the UK where the "official" BBC forecasts are provided by a private company, not the Met Office.

The article is paywalled but I assume the point is that it muddies the waters around warnings etc which is fair enough I suppose, but I'd say that's a bigger conversation around people taking things they read on social media at face value and also how much ridiculous hype and hysteria has been built up around the warning system over the past 10 years

OldRio · 21-10-2025 09:23AM

The only hype and hysteria I see is done via appalling click bait articles and links. Weather bomb me hole. Etc etc. People are easily manipulated nowadays. Common sense belongs to a bygone era.

10-10-20 · 21-10-2025 11:02AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123923825#Comment_123923825

To me the commentary from Evelyn is more of an indication that ME aren't communicating effectively in the social media space, allowing the click-baiters and 'rampers' to move in on what they perceive as their space, gaining likes and follows and ad revenue along with it.

Forecasting is a curious business when it comes to precision - no one can predict for the precise nuances of the land. Yet, people seem less willing to accept that uncertainty these days. With social media overflowing with amateur forecasters offering their hot takes, it’s no surprise that some members of the public believe they’re getting more “accurate” predictions for their exact patch of sky. You’ll hear complaints like, “ME didn’t tell me I was getting five minutes of rain at 12…” It’s easy to see why they’re drawn to what appears as local expertise. The same logic extends to nowcasting, official sources like ME can’t (read: don't and shoudn't) match the immediacy of someone live-posting to their followers as the clouds roll in.

OldRio · 21-10-2025 11:25AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123924210#Comment_123924210

I don't think you can blame ME for people's stupidity. Some people believe Facebook because it's Facebook. It is their Bible. Their doctrine. Look at the state of the world. It's just not weather forecasting.

10-10-20 · 21-10-2025 11:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123924274#Comment_123924274

Oh no, not implying that in any way; but they could communicate better.

Cosmo Kramer · 21-10-2025 11:33AM

There's a valid point against Met Eireann in terms of the county by county warnings alright. It's a nonsense way to do things, especially in long thin counties like Cavan and Leitrim, or the geographically large counties - Cork, Galway etc. By all means identify which counties are included, but also show lines on a map showing if it's only one part of the county.

pauldry · 21-10-2025 12:43PM

Well theres a super storm coming Thursday according to Galway Beo n i take everything they say as gospel

MattieMolloy · 21-10-2025 12:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123920838#Comment_123920838

It's wild how much airtime he gets despite not being qualified.

Mr.CoolGuy · 22-10-2025 03:25PM

The county system makes sense and I don't agree for one second that it's a bad way to do things.

Do you think there'd be less confusion if they started going by barony or by nautical mile or by crow-fly km distance from your nearest coastline or mountain top? It would be an absolute disaster.

People know counties, they know the boundaries, for the most part they're a relatively even way of grouping a small country in a number of smaller sections. It's not like other countries which would have Ireland sized counties on the same level as small city boundaries. It's a relatively even spread despite the imperfections.

People need to grow up and realise they're not going to ever get perfectly accurate weather down to their Eircode. I'm in east-ish Cork so I know most wind/rain warnings are not likely to impact me because I apply the smallest amount of critical thinking about it. If your part of the county wasn't hit as badly then get over it. "Oh the storm knew to stop a the county bounds is it?!" is Facebook level dumbarsery

It doesn't take a genius to work out that Met Eireann try to stay away from ambiguity in their reporting in order to not send mixed messaging. They look at the most likely scenario and report on that. Carlow Weather and the likes can spend longer talking about things into their phone's and mention probabilities and potential storm-paths etc. If Met Eireann did that they'd be absolutely hammered by most people for waffling on.

I don't get the complaints on this forum about the county system at all. It's quite clear there's no other way to do this that won't result in more confusion/inaccuracy.