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"

"The day I meet Evelyn Cusack and Séamus Walsh is pleasant autumn weather, but a few days later, I find myself writing up the interview in the middle of a Status Orange warning for Storm Amy. Over 200,000 properties are without power, and a man has died in Letterkenny. In the UK, the storm has hit harder and faster than expected."

"It all goes to show just how important weather forecasting is. It also brings into focus something that can cause people huge irritation: the colour-coding of weather warnings, from yellow, to orange, to red. This is the kind of thing that's easy to give out about - think various manifestations of "nanny state gone mad", and "When I was a kid, it was just weather...""

Evelyn Cusack and Séamus Walsh informed the Irish public about forecasts at Met Éireann for decades and have launched a book about the weather. They describe climate shifting from a local phenomenon to a global concern, express despair at continued fossil-fuel driven policies, and hold hopes for the future. A Status Orange warning for Storm Amy left over 200,000 properties without power and caused a fatality in Letterkenny, with the storm striking the UK harder and faster than expected. The events underline the practical importance of accurate weather forecasting and public warning systems.

Read at Independent