Irish weather forecasters are to follow the example of the new kilometre road signs and will abandon the use of miles per hour when giving wind speeds in bulletins from the end of next week.
Yesterday Met Éireann said it would be mirroring the changeover of speed limits from miles per hour (m.p.h) to kilometres per hour (k.p.h) this month.
From January 20th, the day the metric changeover comes into legal effect for road signs, Met Éireann will be giving wind speeds in kilometres per hour.
The use of the Beaufort scale (e.g. force four, force five, etc) for wind strengths will continue to be used in sea-area forecasts, Met Éireann said.
Although meteorology equipment measures wind speeds in metric units or in knots, these are then converted into m.p.h figures by forecasters for most television and radio forecasts.
For example, forecasters were warning of wind speeds of up to 100 m.p.h for today.
Mr Michael Walsh, head of forecasting at Met Éireann, said the use of miles was to give a measurement that people understood and used in everyday life.
"It would seem ridiculous to keep using miles when every sign in the country is in kilometres per hour," he said.
Forecaster Ms Evelyn Cusack said most children were taught measurements in metric units. "It's only us old fogeys who use miles," she said.