Storm Darragh: Status orange wind warning issued for 10 counties

Status yellow wind warning in effect for a number of other counties until this afternoon

More stormy weather is on the way. Photograph: Alan Betson
More stormy weather is on the way. Photograph: Alan Betson

Wind warnings have been issued for 10 counties on the island of Ireland over the coming days by both Met Éireann and the UK Met Office.

Met Éireann on Thursday morning issued a status orange wind warning for counties Kerry, Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow, warning Storm Darragh would bring “very strong and gusty northwest winds”.

Storm Darragh, named by the UK Met Office, will move east across Ireland and the UK from the Atlantic on Friday night into Saturday, Met Éireann said.

Earlier, a status yellow wind warning had been issued for Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo, with the weather alert coming into effect at 1pm until 4pm on Thursday.

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The national forecaster is warning that on Thursday, rain will spread eastwards across the country and will gradually clear during the afternoon with scattered showers following.

Moderate southerly winds will become northwesterly as rain clears and will increase fresh to strong and very gusty and reach gale force at times near west and north coasts in the late afternoon and evening. Highest temperatures of 8 to 13 degrees.

It will remain rather windy at first on Thursday night with scattered showers too for a time, but the winds will ease and the showers will become isolated and mainly confined to coastal parts of the north and west. There will be some clear spells, but it’ll become cloudier from the west overnight.

Met Éireann is warning that there is still a little uncertainty in the forecast for Friday and Friday night, as it “depends on the track and development of an area of low pressure, which currently looks set to track eastwards across the south of Ireland”, met.ie said.

“At the moment the most likely scenario is that it’ll be a cloudy day on Friday, with some heavy rain and localised flooding, mainly across the southern half of the country.”

Rain will be lighter further north. But it will be cool with highest temperatures of 5 to 9 degrees generally, but milder in southern areas, ranging from 9 to 13 degrees. It will become rather windy in southern areas with fresh to strong and gusty cyclonic variable winds developing, the winds will be lighter though further north.

A more northerly track to the area of low pressure would give more widespread heavy rain and localised flooding right across the country and could result in very windy weather, but it looks like this is a less likely scenario.

Met Éireann is warning that forecast updates could be in the offing.

Friday night will see rain clearing southeastwards with clear spells and some showers following, some of hail, especially into the north and west. It is going to turn colder, so some of those showers will fall as sleet too, especially over higher ground.

Lowest temperatures will dip to between 0 to 4 degrees, with some frost and ice likely, especially across the midlands and east.

Meanwhile, the UK Met Office has also issued a yellow status wind warning for Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

The Met Office said there will be “some disruption possible from strong and gusty winds”. This comes into effect on Thursday at 3pm and remains valid until 6am on Friday.

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