A White Christmas Podcast – Met Éireann Monthly Podcast released

The Christmas edition of the Met Éireann Podcast was released this morning. In this month’s episode presenters Liz Walsh and Noel Fitzpatrick have left their footprints all over snowy ground, exploring issues like:

• how often we get a white Christmas
• how frequent snowfall is in general
• some of the notable big snow events in Ireland and around the world
• the different weather conditions that can lead to snowfall, including sudden stratospheric warming, and
• why it can be so tricky to forecast snow in Ireland

Co-presenter of the monthly podcast series, Met Éireann’s Noel Fitzpatrick said: “We’re also going to talk about snowflakes in the Christmas episode. We often hear that all snowflakes are unique, but how do they form? We take our listeners along a snowflake’s journey - from its formation to falling on the surface. We also look into why they have such a distinctive shape. In this episode we’re also going to learn about the role snow plays in our climate, and how the ongoing loss of snow and ice from our planet is amplifying present day climate change.”

The Christmas episode will also feature an interview with the Met Éireann choir, the Isobars. Co-presenter Liz Walsh said: “The Isobars are frequent contributors to the podcast, often closing out an episode for us. This month they tell us a little bit about themselves and get us into the Christmas spirit by performing a beautiful rendition of ‘White Christmas’, with Aoife Murray conducting and accompaniment from Dónal Black. We hope people get a chance to listen to the episode in the run-up to, or during, the festive season.”

The Met Éireann Irish language podcast, Podchraoladh Met Éireann, presented by Ferdia McCrann, will also cover matters snow and will be released in the coming days.

The monthly podcast by Met Éireann, a division of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, is available to download on the Met Éireann website and wherever people normally get podcasts.

A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all our listeners!