05/09/2026
The Sweeney family and the Blacksod Weather Station – a story that began long before D-Day
With the release of Pressure bringing the remarkable story of the D-Day weather forecast to cinema screens this September, we thought it was a good opportunity to look back at how the Sweeney family's connection with weather observing at Blacksod actually began.
Margaret Sweeney became Postmistress at Blacksod in 1913. ( Mother of Ted Sweeney)
At that time, weather observations from Blacksod Point were being carried out by a Coastguard watcher under the British Admiralty. Blacksod's position on the extreme western edge of Ireland made these observations particularly valuable, providing an early warning of weather systems approaching from the Atlantic.
Following the withdrawal of the British Coastguard after Irish independence, there was a clear determination that these important observations from Blacksod should continue. Correspondence from Downing Street even suggested that the lighthouse keeper at Blacksod might take responsibility for the observations.
That, however, is not what happened.
The work was instead placed in the hands of Margaret Sweeney, Postmistress at Blacksod.
A remarkable newspaper report published in 1923 records:
"A coastguard watcher under the Admiralty formerly took observations at this remote spot. On his withdrawal by the Admiralty the work was put into the hands of the sub-postmistress at Blacksod Point."
And so began the Sweeney family's long association with the Blacksod weather station.
Some twenty years later, a young Maureen Flavin arrived in Blacksod to work at the Post Office. There she met Margaret's son, Ted Sweeney, and became involved in taking the regular weather observations.
Then came June 1944.
As the Allied forces prepared for the invasion of Normandy, observations from Blacksod became critically important to the meteorologists trying to forecast conditions over the English Channel. Reports from Blacksod helped identify the approaching Atlantic weather that contributed to the decision to postpone the invasion originally planned for 5 June.
The weather improved sufficiently for General Eisenhower to give the order to proceed, and on the morning of 6 June 1944, D-Day began.
Maureen would later marry Ted, becoming Maureen Sweeney, but the family's connection with weather observing at Blacksod did not end with the war.
In the years that followed, the old Coastguard property was eventually disposed of by the Office of Public Works. Ted and Maureen relocated the Post Office and weather station to Blacksod Lighthouse, continuing the observations from there.
That arrangement continued until 1956, when a new purpose-built meteorological station was established closer to Belmullet, bringing to an end more than three decades of weather observations associated with the Sweeney family at Blacksod.
From the Admiralty Coastguard watcher, to Margaret Sweeney, and then to Ted and Maureen Sweeney, the story of the Blacksod weather station stretches far beyond those famous days in June 1944.
The photographs accompanying this post show Margaret Sweeney, the former Blacksod Coastguard Station and members of the Sweeney family, while the surviving correspondence helps tell the story of just how important it was that weather observations from this remote corner of Ireland should continue.
More than a century after Margaret took on that responsibility, and over 80 years after the D-Day forecast, it is wonderful to see this extraordinary piece of Blacksod history once again reaching a wider audience through Pressure.
