Weather radar facility proposed for the county
Computer generated image of the proposed weather radar station
Met Éireann is planning a new radar facility in the county.
The national forecaster said it will be lodging the plans for a proposed weather radar facility at Cloonfad with Roscommon County Council. The proposal will be on Coillte lands and will be one of the five new radar facilities to be installed nationwide.
The location at Cloonfad has been carefully selected in a semi-isolated and elevated area, to provide optimal precipitation coverage for the country, Met Éireann said.
“Each of the selected locations provides good coverage over large population centers and key river catchments at a local and national level, an essential feature for the prediction of potential floods, while ensuring the best possible coverage across the country,” it added. “Each location for a new radar has been selected to minimize any impact in terms of construction and operation on the surrounding environment and community.”
The planning application being submitted to Roscommon County Council proposes a white weather radar dome, metal lattice tower and support structure. The total height of the radar dome and tower will be approximately 36 metres "to ensure that it is above the current and future height of the surrounding tree line, which is necessary to ensure it can collect weather data without interference".
“As is the case with existing weather radars in Ireland and internationally, the radar scan from each of the new radars will be directed above all human settlements, structures and vegetation. As such, they will have no impact on surrounding communities or landscape and habitats. The radar will only collect weather information such as wind and rainfall data,” the forecaster said.
“It should also be noted that the new radar at Cloonfad will benefit communities nationally and locally. For example, the areas surrounding each of these new weather radars will benefit from having the highest rainfall data accuracy, and local stakeholders such as local authorities and emergency services, as well as local communities, will be able to plan effectively and efficiently by using rainfall data from the weather radars.”
Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice, who was informed of the proposal by Met Éireann, has welcomed the proposal.
“I think the big advantage of this will be predicting weather in our area. We often see situations where we may not have had that accurate weather reports for West Roscommon,” he said. “This has been borne out in the recent storms, when we were on a yellow warning and probably deserved to be on an orange or red at times.”
