Joanna Donnelly's life away from weather as star departs RTE

Irish Daily Mirror

22-04-2025

If there was anyone who knew about the weather, it was Joanna Donnelly.
But the mum-of-three leads a seasonal life outside of RTE, away from weather maps and storm warnings.
Joanna is an avid cyclist and runner who loves her fashion, showcasing a very classy and chic style while presenting the weather.
But it was this year that fans got to know the weather woman when she signed up to Dancing with the Stars earlier this year.
She was the third celebrity to be voted out of the show with her pro dance partner Maciej Zieba.
But during her stint on the glitzy RTE show, Joanna came to blows with former Mrs Brown's Boys star Rory Cowan who accused the weather broadcaster of 'alarmist scaremongering' when the country became gripped in sub zero temperatures in January.
Mr Cowan posted on X: 'The national broadcaster and those in the know say there's a serious weather event in Ireland. They issued a warning about it over the last few days. What serious weather event? I haven't seen much evidence of it so far'.
Joanna responded sarcastically to Mr Cowan at the time saying: 'Rory you should take a drive to Limerick, bring a care package to the vulnerable there trying to cope. Oh and DON'T check your tread depth or tyre pressure before you set off. DON'T steer in to a skid, just slam on your brakes really hard if you start to slide…be grand.'
He then retorted: 'Or I could just use my common sense and not buy into the alarmist scaremongering.'
Away from reporting on the weather, Joanna is also an author.
In 2018, Joanna penned an illustrated book called The Great Irish Weather Book.
Joanna then launched her second book, Malin Head to Mizen Head, which is a journey around Ireland's Sea Area Forecast in 2023.
Away from public life, Joanna is married to fellow Met Eireann forecaster, Harm Luijkx, from The Netherlands and the couple have three children, a daughter Nicci, and two sons, Tobias and Casper.
Her eldest, Nicci, and her youngest, Casper, she had naturally but she had her middle child Tobias through IVF.
Joanna opened up about her journey in 2016, saying "it wasn't fair" her third child was conceived naturally after going having her second through IVF.
The Dubliner said at the time: "My middle child was IVF. Afterwards, I got pregnant naturally and I just thought, 'Well that isn't fair' - there are people in a terrible position of never being able to afford IVF.
"People seem to know that IVF is very expensive and it is, but they often don't realise that the run-up to IVF is also very expensive.
"You don't just wake up one morning and say, 'I am going for IVF; you have all the scans, all the tests, which have usually depleted people's savings before they go anywhere near a private hospital for IVF. I just thought, 'That isn't right,' so we set up Pomegranate."
She co-found Pomegranate, alongside her friend Fiona McPhillips, which is a charity that provides help for those suffering from infertility.