How They Met: Love Was Forecast for Joanna Donnelly and Harm Luijkx
A Love Story That Weathered the Storms
Joanna Donnelly has been a familiar face on television for many years, from delivering weather forecasts to dancing on Dancing With The Stars. Her journey has not only been marked by her professional achievements but also by a deep and enduring love story with her husband, Harm Luijk. Together, they have built a life filled with joy, challenges, and countless memories.
How They Met
Both Joanna and Harm are meteorologists, and their paths crossed in 2001 during a training course in the UK. Harm, who hails from the Netherlands, was sent to the UK for the program, while Joanna came from Met Éireann. Their initial meeting was purely professional, but what started as a friendship soon blossomed into something more.
Joanna shared, "Harm is a meteorologist as well, and we met during training in the UK. We were both sent there, and we became friends quickly." She explained that their friendship grew stronger over time, eventually leading to a romantic relationship.
Romance Blossomed
During the course, the couple spent a lot of time together, eating meals and exploring London on weekends. It was at a mutual friend’s wedding that their relationship took a significant turn.
"We were working together and eating in the evenings. We’d go to London at the weekends to get away from the training. Then we went to a friend's wedding and got intoxicated and ended up together!" Joanna recalled.
Making It Official
In 2004, Joanna and Harm tied the knot, and they recently shared a throwback photo from their wedding day. The image captured them sharing their first kiss surrounded by loved ones. Joanna's dress was simple yet elegant, perfectly matching her style.
In 2025, they celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary. Joanna expressed her gratitude, saying, "Super achievement managing to keep the likes of me happy for 21 years of marriage."
Starting a Family
The couple welcomed their daughter Nicci in 2005, who later became a model. However, their journey to expand their family was not without its challenges. They faced seven miscarriages before welcoming their sons. One particularly heartbreaking experience occurred on a flight to New York when Joanna suffered a miscarriage.
"I was bleeding heavily and went to visit my cousin in her workplace. I went to the bathroom and passed the baby," she shared in a documentary. "I remember holding my tiny baby in my hands, looking at it and touching it, and it was an awful horror story."
Despite these difficulties, Joanna eventually welcomed her second child through IVF, and her youngest was conceived naturally.
Navigating Life's Storms
While their love has endured, the couple has also faced their share of challenges. Harm once broke up with Joanna, but the separation lasted only two hours. "He dumped me once, but it was fine. It was only over for two hours and I don’t let him forget that!" she joked.
Joanna also spoke about her fears when they first became parents. "When I was pregnant for the first time, and Harm went off to work on his bike, I sat there and thought he would die and I would be left alone with the child," she said. "But of course, Harm came home again."
Her fears were partly rooted in her own childhood, when her father died when she was three, and her mother was pregnant with her youngest sibling.
Turning 20!
In December, Joanna and Harm celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary with a trip to the slopes, just the two of them. "A super break to congratulate ourselves for putting up with each other so long," she joked, sharing a series of photos showing them having a great time.
Dancing With The Stars
In 2025, Joanna stepped onto the dancefloor on Dancing With The Stars to honor her mother, who had a love for ballroom dancing. Her husband and children cheered her on from the audience.
"Harm has been great, very supportive," she told You Magazine. "I have been trying to uphold my end of the bargain in the house, sort Christmas, mind the kids, and so on, and still work, but it is a huge challenge with the physicality of it. I am wiped out at the end of the day."
A Shared Love of Weather
Joanna has always been passionate about weather, even going public to defend forecasters against claims of alarmism. Interestingly, her husband is even more into weather than she is, often bringing up the topic at home.
"Unfortunately, we don’t leave the work talk at the office. Harm is worse than I am; he wants to talk about weather all the time," she told RSVP Country magazine in 2024.
Their love story is a testament to resilience, support, and shared passions, proving that even the toughest storms can lead to beautiful moments.
