Madam, - The Met Éireann weather forecast, specifically that broadcast on evening television after the news, appears to have reduced the time it spends on forecasting the weather and is instead spending an increasing amount of its allocated time reporting on weather conditions experienced in the day. The various presenters seem to spend the first half of their short bulletin describing in detail what "today's weather" was like - pretty useless information to those of us who have spent most of the daylight hours awake.
Quite what the purpose is of informing the viewing public after the event that places like Belmullet had 25 millimetres of rain and a "wind gust" of 45 kmh escapes me. After all, I'm sure the poor drenched and windswept inhabitants of Belmullet and do not need reminding of the soaking they endured earlier in the day.
And mindful of our splendid impending winter weather, is it too much to ask that the presenters not grin when predicting heavy rain and high winds? - Yours, etc,
JOHN GRANT, Seabury Orchard, Malahide, Co Dublin.