Met Éireann calls on public to help save Ireland’s historic weather records

Before satellites and supercomputers, Ireland’s weather was recorded by hand, rainfall carefully inked into notebooks by farmers, teachers and lighthouse keepers.

Now Met Éireann is calling on the public to help rescue those lost records and bring 160 years of Irish weather history back to life.

To mark Climate Action Week, the national forecaster has launched the Irish Weather Rescue Project, a major crowdsourcing effort to digitise 3.5 million historic rainfall observations from 763 stations around Ireland.

The records, which span from 1864 to 1951, are currently stored in the National Climate Archive managed by Met Éireann.

Members of the public are being invited to take part by transcribing the old Rainfall Registers into digital form, helping to preserve vital climate data for future generations.

Experts say the information is crucial for understanding long-term weather trends and the growing impacts of climate change.

Once digitised, the records will help scientists analyse changes in rainfall patterns, verify climate models, and improve predictions for Ireland’s future weather.

Dr Ciara Ryan, climatologist at Met Éireann, said the project gives everyone a chance to make a lasting contribution to Irish climate research.

“This project is a chance for members of the public to make a real and lasting contribution to climate research,” she said.

“Digitising these records provides access to valuable data that will improve our understanding of Ireland’s climate variability and in particular, changes in the frequency and magnitude of extreme rainfall events over the past 160 years, and their possible link to human-caused climate change.”

Volunteers will be helping to unlock decades of valuable weather observations gathered by generations of local record-keepers across the country.

Dr Rhonda McGovern, postdoctoral researcher and coordinator of the Irish Weather Rescue Project, said over 300 volunteers have already taken part in the pilot phase.

“Through the initial pilot phase of the Irish Weather Rescue Project, 300 volunteers have transcribed almost 10,000 months’ worth of historic observations from weather stations across Ireland,” she said.

“Volunteers can transcribe the rainfall values or information such as station names, units of measurement or the named observer. To ensure accuracy, each observation will be transcribed four times, and participants can track their progress over time.”

Anyone can take part from home using the Zooniverse platform at irishweatherrescue.ie.

Volunteers will be provided with clear instructions, a short video tutorial, and access to an online discussion forum where they can chat with the project team and other participants.

The digitised data will eventually be made available to researchers and shared through national and international climate databases.

Met Éireann says it will provide regular updates as the project progresses, showcasing how volunteer contributions are helping to shape Ireland’s understanding of its changing climate.

For more details or to get involved, visit irishweatherrescue.ie.