‘My washing is soaked’: Met Éireann hit with bizarre complaints over forecasts

Ken Foxe

Soaked washing on the clothesline, pleas to upgrade a weather warning so an employee could get paid by their boss, and “bourgeois” pronunciation were among the gripes submitted to Met Éireann last year.

The national meteorological service said it had received dozens of complaints in 2025 with a surge in feedback during major weather events like Storm Éowyn and snowfall, according to FOI records.

Met Éireann also had to contend with a rogue social media account impersonating it and posting racist content.

One email said: “Your Bluesky has been hacked – or else you made a racist comment about Travellers on purpose – I’d advise you check it out very quickly!”

The meteorological service responded to say the account was bogus and had been immediately reported to the social media service.

Not all complaints were of such a serious nature, however.

One person blasted Met Éireann for their failure to predict heavy showers. “No rain forecast for Donabate [in Dublin] and all my washing is soaked,” they said.

Another said a weather warning should have been upgraded from orange to red.

“I am a HSE employee and cannot get to or from work ... without pay ... at least if it was a red warning I could get paid,” they said.

One RTÉ viewer was unhappy with the language used by a forecaster on TV saying it felt like “being spoken down to.”

They wrote: “I have endured being told about such weather features such as ‘clyde’ (not the river), oh, and ‘frowst’ (wha?) ... sometimes in the ‘no-irth wast’ (eh, Sligo?) by this [person]. Tonight took the bourgeois biscuit.”

Others were unhappy that the moon phases had been removed from weather forecasts.

A message said: “It’s disappointing to think that Met Éireann do not think the moon phases and tides are important enough to be included. We SO look forward to seeing our moon as part of the weather chart.”

One person wrote about how they had been thinking of going to the beach based on the forecast, only to be disappointed.

“I am here in Kilkenny, and it is so dull it is depressing me,” they said. “You would need to be a lot better than that.”

Another said they had planned to paint their house because the forecast said that rain was unlikely.

“Needless to say, it poured rain in the middle of the job, twice. So much so it washed some paint off the wall and onto the cobblelock below where the white paint remains now dry,” they said.

Others said there seemed to be a bias in forecasts towards providing information for the east of the country.

A complaint said: “You are our national forecaster – Donegal once again seems to be the forgotten county! Your meteorologists need to be more accurate considering I, as a taxpayer, am paying their wages.”

Asked about the records, a spokesperson said Met Éireann’s job was to monitor, analyse, and predict Ireland’s weather and climate and provide high-quality information to the public and stakeholders.

They said: “An important part of our role is to communicate information to all audiences, in terms of current weather and climate and also broader historical and future insights to help inform immediate and longer-term policies and decisions.

“We utilise multiple communications channels such as our website and app, social media channels, direct engagement, media and public awareness activities to ensure that we are providing scientific weather and climate-related information in a proactive, consistent and clear manner for all.”

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