Milestone for weather service
Dublin People 10 Dec 2011
MET Eireann, which has its headquarters in Glasnevin,
celebrated its 75th anniversary as Ireland’s National Meteorological Service
last week.
Staff at the weather centre have kept us up to date
throughout major weather events such as the heavy snows of the early
’60s, the
late
’70s and 2010 not to mention to the heat waves of 1975,
’76 and 1996 and
hurricanes Debbie in 1961 and Charley in 1986.
Met Eireann’s anniversary coincides with Aer Lingus’
75 years in service which is telling of the link between advances in transport
and the need and importance of weather forecasts for travel.
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.
For two-thirds of its 75-year history the Met Ã?ireann
weather men and women have been familiar faces and voices on RTÃ?.
The first televised weather bulletin was aired on
January 1, 1962, presented by forecaster George Callaghan and the first radio
weather bulletin followed some years later in 1968, presented by Paddy MacHugh.
Winking-weatherman Gerald Fleming, Head of Forecasting
at Met Ã?ireann, described how weather forecasting has come of age.
“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,
? he said.
“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 Ã?ireann since 1979. Met Ã?ireann staff are also based at the
four State airports and at Casement Aerodrome, Belmullet, Co Mayo, and Valentia
Observatory in Caherciveen Co Kerry.
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