Met Éireann weather warnings: What warrants a status red alert?

James Cox

Met Éireann's weather warning system has been in the spotlight this week following criticism over the fact there was no status red warning for Storm Babet, which caused devastation in Co Cork.

The mayor of Cork County Frank O’Flynn has called for an investigation into why the weather warning for Cork during Storm Babet was not upgraded to red status.

Senior meteorologist with Met Éireann, Eoin Sherlock has acknowledged that the methods by which they categorise extreme weather situations will have to change because of climate change. Future weather warnings will be about what the weather will do rather than what the weather will be, he said.

This is how the warnings are currently assessed:

Yellow, orange and red warnings

• Yellow warnings are issued for "not unusual weather, localised danger."
• Orange warnings are infrequent, and issued for "dangerous / disruptive" weather.
• Red warnings are rare, and issued for "extremely dangerous / destructive" weather.

Yellow warnings

• 20 to 30mm of rain in 6 hours or less.
• 30mm to 40mm of rain in 12 hours or less.
• 30mm to 50mm of rain in 24 hours.

Orange warnings

• 30mm — 50mm in 6 hrs or less.
• 40mm — 60mm in 12 hrs or less.
• 50mm — 80mm in 24 hrs.

Red warnings

• Greater than 50mm in 6 hrs or less.
• Greater than 60mm in 12 hrs or less.
• Greater than 80mm in 24 hrs or less.