Offaly's online weather expert outlines plan to expand service

By Rebekah O'Reilly

Cathal Nolan, the man behind Ireland's Weather Channel, has plans to expand his popular online weather forecasting service.

Cathal shared the news after his weather channel received an expression of interest from a financial backer last October. He said planning was now under way to further develop and add to Ireland's Weather Channel, which has more than 100,000 followers on Facebook.

"The funding will allow us to become the first independent professional weather channel in Ireland which is not associated with Met Éireann," Cathal said.

"We will be able to create our own weather studio, which will increase the quality of our forecasts. We also hope to extend our service to other areas that may need it, such as small enterprises and farmers, who are hugely affected by the weather. We will become our own private weather business."

Ireland's Weather Channel started in 2013, and was named Offaly Weather before Cathal expanded its coverage nationwide.

The following of the page has grown since then, and the opportunity for further expansion is due to the size of its audience.

Cathal said: "The investor is actually someone who was a long-time follower of Ireland's Weather Channel. He contacted us because he needed a private forecast, and we helped with that.

"We are grateful that, at the time, we were deciding to become a private independent weather business, and this opportunity came up seemingly out of the blue!"

The 32-year-old is the sole operator of Ireland's Weather Channel and has been working at it full-time since last May. He hopes that, within a year or so, he will be able to recruit more members to the team.

"We would of course be looking in the future to hire further meteorologists, AI professionals, and graphic designers. It does depend on how things develop, and so it would be in a year's time.

"Ireland's Weather Channel hopes to remain in the midlands. It's where it all started, and it is a great place to observe weather events," Cathal said.

"Our main priority is to keep posting online. We wouldn't be in the position that we're in today if it wasn't for the online presence."

The details of the channel's funding and the expansion of services are to be ironed out; however, it is hoped that the new services will be available from the autumn.

Ireland's Weather Channel recently launched a newsletter, which will feature updates about local and international weather events, as well as information about climate science.

To sign up for the newsletter go to Ireland's Weather Channel on Facebook, or email: irelandsweatherchannel@gmail.com