Joanna Donnelly: The weather woman

It is generally accepted that as a nation Ireland is obsessed with the weather, but have you ever wondered where exactly this captivation is rooted? Well, who better to ask than meteorologist, forecaster and all-round woman of the weather Joanna Donnelly.

“For a start, I think humans are obsessed with the weather because there’s this thing happening to us that we can’t control. It happens to everybody. It’s the same for you, me and everyone else out there,” explains Joanna. “That little bit extra here in Ireland is of course the agricultural basis of our history. Also, and probably crucially, the difference is fronts go through here so quickly that the weather changes in a matter of a couple of hours. I think we take it as par for the course that there could be four seasons in a day, but most other countries don’t actually have that.”

Joanna has worked for Met Éireann for over 20 years, but only in the past two began presenting the weather on RTÉ television and, despite being a born-and-bred Dub, is no stranger to a farming forecast. Last October, she became a household name when she fronted the coverage of the worst storm to hit Ireland in 50 years, Ophelia.

Although the rest of us may be uncertain as to what sparks our interest in the weather, Joanna is resolute that her fascination comes from science. Having studied applied mathematics at Dublin City University (DCU), she did a thesis based on a statistical analysis of the weather.

“That brought me to the Met office to get some data and that’s when I said: ‘This is where I need to be, this is where I want to be,’” remembers the forecaster with a smile.

Younger years

During her childhood, Joanna was hugely into maths and science – so much so that her secondary school teachers in these subjects thought she was like a different person when in those classes.

“I never had a partner in the science lab because no one would pair with me – I wouldn’t let them do anything. I was crazy about science. I was a torment for my French teacher, my English teacher and every other teacher – they thought I was the Antichrist,” Joanna laughs.

“But my science teacher and my maths teachers were like: ‘What are you talking about? She’s amazing.’

“I remember my friends calling for me one Christmas and I was sitting in the living room with my chemistry book on my lap reading it and they were like: ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I was like: ‘What? It’s interesting, it’s a good book.’ It was always science from the beginning – science and maths.”

It is no surprise that Joanna has put pen to paper for her newly released children’s science book, The Great Irish Weather. An in-depth look at Ireland’s weather systems, the book is brought to life with illustrations from Fuchsia MacAree.

When publishers Gill initially approached her about writing a book, it was after Ophelia, a time when Joanna was still reeling from the attention she was getting. Initially she thought they wanted her to write an autobiography, a prospect with which she was not particularly enamoured.

“I was like: ‘Oh God no, I’m not writing that book – too many people would have to be dead before I write that book,’” she chuckles.

When it came to light that it was to be a science book for children based on the weather, Joanna was so enthused that she had half the content written within 24 hours of the publishers making contact. With a background speaking in schools, Joanna explains that she was well used to making this heavy material accessible to children, so most of the book’s content was formulated in her head already.

Health and happiness

Whether it be as a meteorologist or an author, science is the foundation for much of Joanna’s professional life. But she has much to offer outside the science sphere – personally, she has a very poignant story to tell.

Joanna and her husband, Harm Luijkx, who is from the Netherlands and also a meteorologist, have three children: Nicci (15), Tobias (11) and Casper (nine). Like many, Joanna took little notice of her fertility until she realised that there may be a problem. The couple had little to no issue conceiving their first child, but ran into difficulty while trying for their second.

“I had my daughter and still didn’t really know how my fertility worked, if I’m to be honest about it. Not that I didn’t know the biology behind it, but I didn’t think about it. Then when I tried to have a sibling for my daughter, it didn’t happen and I wasn’t able to get pregnant, so I had secondary infertility.

“After a few years of trying, not that long to be perfectly honest in fertility terms, we did the usual, Clomid and IUI – none of that had worked and we found ourselves going for IVF. We were lucky enough that it was successful on the first round,” Joanna says.

“But after that I actually fell pregnant naturally. So, when I didn’t need to have IVF again, I thought, I need to help someone who can’t get IVF because they can’t afford it. Myself and my friend, Fiona, who was in the exact same boat as me, set up Pomegranate together.”

As fertility treatment is not available through the public health system in Ireland, Pomegranate is a charity that aims to provide financial help for those who suffer from infertility and cannot afford treatment. Joanna and Fiona hope someday to be put out of business by legislation that facilitates fertility treatment in the public health system.

In terms of her own health too, insomnia is also something Joanna has had to contend with, and has done so since puberty. Speaking with Irish Country Living over a cup of tea, Joanna says that she has been sleeping much better lately and pins this to one crucial change.

“I have banned electronics from the bedroom once and for all. I bought an old-fashioned alarm clock. Although I knew I should be leaving the electronics out of the bedroom, I wasn’t. I had them beside my bed and finishing the night playing Candy Crush was brutal for my health. So I leave them outside the room and it’s absolutely great,” beams Joanna.

“It’s funny, now that I’m a fertility expert I also know why my insomnia happened. When the progesterone [a hormone associated with menstruation] stops, I start to become restless and sleepless. It takes a couple of nights and it will become alright again.”

After a long and in-depth conversation with the meteorologist, really there’s only one question to ask, and of course that is: do we know what kind of weather we will be facing into this winter?

“No, there’s no long-term forecasting for these latitudes. Met Éireann produces its forecast based on scientific information. The science isn’t there to produce a long-term forecast for our latitude, so there’s just no point. Anyone who says that they can or says that somebody else can, they are misinformed,” Joanna states.

As always, the answer is rooted in science, so we will just have to wait.

The Great Irish Weather is available now, retailing at €24.99.

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