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Weather forecaster Evelyn Cusack retires after 42 years with Met Éireann

Evelyn Cusack is retiring after 42 years with Met Éireann.

The 58-year-old spent 30 of those years presenting weather bulletins on RTÉ.

She began presenting RTÉ’s weather forecast in 1988, and was promoted to Head of Forecasting in 2017.

RTÉ

Evelyn said weather forecasting has “changed utterly and for the better”, predicting that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will inevitably run the show.

The forecaster revealed there were no satellites or internet when she first got a job in Met Éireann back in 1981.

Evelyn recalled being promoted to Head of Forecasting in 2017, describing it as her “annus horribilis of weather”.

The 58-year-old recounted it began with Storm Ophelia, which was closely followed by Storm Emma, a.k.a the ‘Beast from the East’.

RTÉ

“So, then I was looking forward to a nice summer and we did get a nice summer,” Evelyn said. “And then Bray started to go on fire, and we were in the NECG [National Emergency Coordination Group] again because there was a water shortage.”

“So, then I thought that’s it… but there was one more sting in the tail.”

Speaking of the Status Yellow wind warning in place during the Ploughing Championships in September, Evelyn said: “I looked and thought oh, around 80-90km/h winds, a huge, tented village and 100,000 people.”

She recommended that the event be cancelled, adding: “It was a huge deal then… it seemed like an enormous thing to do. I mean, I closed it down.”

“But then, thankfully, just professionally for me, the winds whipped up and everything was flattened.”

“Obviously you don’t want anyone hurt or houses knocked down, but you want your forecast to be right and to be able to give enough notice that people can take action.”

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