McHugh's Miscellany - What's going on with weather forecasts?

The recent red, orange and yellow weather alerts of the weekend highlighted a strange inconsistency in the way the Irish think about their counties, demarcation lines and the weather.

No doubt we will be privy to many more over the winter months of various storms with Agnes, Babet, Ciarán and Debi already under our belts.

The uncertainties of Elin, Fergus, Gerrit, Henk, Isha, Jocelyn, Kathleen, Lilian, Minnie, Nicholas, Olga, Piet, Regina, Stuart, Tamiko, Vincent and Walid still lie ahead of us.

And while we might get to see Storm Kathleen or Lilian this winter, Storm Vincent will certainly indicate bad times ahead. 

Apparently, so you know, the letters Q, U, X, Y, Z are not included in Storm naming, so that it runs in tandem with the US National Hurricane Centre naming convention. 

Again, not sure of the logic here on the basis that the aforementioned five letters are very much part of the American lexicon.

Two things got me thinking. Why do they simply go back to a whole new alphabet soup next year rather than continuing with the current list?

Do people really care if we name ten storms this year and start with Kathleen next winter? 

I do not think so. 

The other thing is that just three countries - ourselves, Britain and the Netherlands have signed up for these storm names, but no one else to date. 

If the Dutch say they have a potential orange or red weather alert on the way, they get to call the storm and so it is deemed in Donegal, even if we are with a wisp of wind.

The same happens in reverse, if Ireland is set for a really bad weather forecast in the north west we name the storm even if the Dutch have no issues of a similar nature.

Then you have the anomaly of Met Éireann who appear to know the integral importance of county boundaries with the three tiered weather warnings, not infringing on other county boundaries. 

Either the full county is under the veil of a warning or it is not!

In an era of modern technology of tracking storm systems, I am sure that parts of a county being included in a warning is more appropriate than the strict adherence to full county boundaries. 

What makes them decide to include a full county or not?

Indeed, have you noticed the number of times that the Met Office in the UK issue warnings for the six counties, but once you pass the Foyle, Finn or Erne, Donegal is not deemed to have reached the warning standard threshold set by Met Éireann. 

Take that view as opposed to those lovely people in the Electoral Commission who appear happy to chop up Dáil and county boundaries like meat in the butchers, where they claim there is no other option. 

They don’t mind discommoding parts of the population in different counties, if it suits them.

Above: Met Eireann would never have allowed parts of Donegal into a Sligo/Leitrim weather warning  

And yet, for something as vitally important as the weather, an arbitrary demarcation of county boundaries appears rather odd. 

Maybe they should swap roles and let Met Éireann take charge of Dáil elections and the Electoral Commission could tinker away with weather alerts and county boundaries to their heart's content. 

A little tinker here and there, a wee bit of a county here added to another county there. It would make much more sense if applied to the weather, rather than the voting.

Agus ar deireadh

Talking of storms across the pond, it is hard to believe that David Cameron is back in political power as Foreign Secretary, after the sacking of the Home Secretary Suella Braverman. 

She, who wanted those refugees crossing the English Channel to be flown to Rwanda, wrote a three page demolition job of her Prime Minister after getting her own red card.

Strange that she didn't think that her criticism of her country’s police of showing bias in policing leading up to last Saturday’s pro palestinian protest in London ever crossed her mind nor her recent comments that homelessness was “a lifestyle choice” came into the equation.