Met Éireann’s 75th anniversary

Met Éireann has always had very strong links with County Mayo through its weather station at Belmullet.

It is no coincidence that both Met Éireann and Aer Lingus celebrate 75 years of service this year.  In the mid-1930s, the nascent aviation industry, and especially the transatlantic flying-boat service out of Foynes, increased the demand for a national weather service in general and transatlantic aviation forecasting in particular. 

Over the years, Met Éireann staff have maintained a continuous weather watch over Ireland, noting such significant events as the dreadful spring of 1947, the snows of the early ‘60s, the late ‘70s and 2010, the wonderful summers of 1975, 1976 and 1996, and innumerable Atlantic storms of which two ex-hurricanes – Debbie in 1961 and Charley in 1986 – are perhaps the most memorable.

Familiar faces

For two-thirds of its 75 year history the Met Éireann weather men and women have been familiar faces and voices on RTÉ. The first televised weather bulletin was aired on Jan 1st 1962, presented by forecaster George Callaghan and the first radio weather bulletin followed some years later in 1968, presented by Paddy MacHugh.

Gerald Fleming (Head of Forecasting at Met Éireann) reflects,  “Back in the 1930’s, most people in Ireland did not have a forecast service – many relied on the signs of nature handed down through the generations, which provided some clues of changes in the very short term.

Scientific weather forecasting was only in its infancy, but it developed very rapidly through World War II, and got a tremendous boost with the first computer models in the ‘50s and the weather satellites, which came in the ‘60s.”

The iconic building in Glasnevin has been the Headquarters of Met Éireann since 1979. Met Éireann staff are also based at the four state airports, Casement Aerodrome,  Belmullet, Co. Mayo, and Valentia Observatory in Caherciveen Co. Kerry, which celebrated 150 years of weather observation last year. 

The work of this core staff is augmented by the efforts of around 500 voluntary observers who diligently record daily weather observations in almost every parish in the country.