Extreme Weather Alerts

During spells of extreme weather, you should make it a priority to keep updated with changing weather forecasts. This will give you the best chance of preparing and adapting your plans accordingly.

The Irish Meteorological Service has a weather warning service for Ireland when severe weather has the potential to bring widespread damage, travel and power disruption and risk to life is likely.

These warnings are given a colour (yellow, orange, or red) depending on the combination of both the impact and the likelihood of those impacts occurring. The Met Eireann provide warnings up to 60-hours ahead of the expected adverse weather but advisories on potential hazards are issued up to a week in advance.

Impacts from wind, rain, show etc vary depending on location, recent weather conditions, the state of the ground, the time of year as well as the curation of the event.

Here we explain each of warnings in more detail, what they mean for you as an employer and the action you should take when an alert comes in.

Yellow - Be Aware

The weather is potentially dangerous. A yellow weather warning indicates that you need to "be aware" of a range of weather situations. This is the least severe of the three warnings. It means to check if you are exposed to danger by nature of your activity or your specific location and not to take any avoidable risks. You should:

• Plan ahead, thinking about possible travel delays or the disruption of your day-to-day activities
• Keep an eye on the latest forecast as the weather may change or worsen
• Follow advice given by authorities under all circumstances and be prepared for extraordinary measures

Orange - Be Prepared

The weather is dangerous. An orange weather warning is the next level down from a red warning and indicates that you need to "prepare" of infrequent and dangerous weather conditions which may pose a threat to life and property. Be very vigilant as there is an increased likelihood of bad weather conditions in affected areas which can be significantly impacted.

• Disruption to your plans and possible travel delays, road and rail closures, interruption to power and the potential risk to life and property
• Check your activity/event and delay or cancel as appropriate to protect yourself, people, and workplace from the impacts of severe weather

Red - Take Action

The weather is rare and very dangerous. Red is the most serious kind of weather warning in Ireland and means that you need to "take action". It is time to act now to protect yourself and your property, if you haven’t already done so.

• Take immediate action to keep yourself and others, including employees safe from the impact of the weather
• Widespread damage and power disruption and risk to life is likely
• Stay away from areas which could be potentially dangerous
• Avoid traveling if possible. Buses, trains, and flights may be delayed or cancelled altogether
• Follow the advice of the emergency services and local authorities

Always keep up to date on the Irish Meteorologic Service's latest forecast. Sign up for alerts here.