Met Éireann issues weather warnings during weekend before Christmas

Tomas Doherty

Weather warnings have been issued by Met Éireann as disruptive gale-force winds are expected to hit western coastal counties this weekend.

A status-yellow wind warning will be in place for Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal from 3am on Saturday until 2pm on Sunday.

A similar warning will affect Clare, Limerick and Kerry for 24 hours from 3pm on Saturday.

Met Éireann said the strong winds will peak on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The national weather agency said the impacts could include “wave overtopping and/or spray, difficult travelling conditions especially near the coast and some fallen trees”.

The UK Met Office has issued an alert for strong winds in northern counties from 7am on Saturday until 9pm on Sunday.

It warned that a prolonged period of strong winds over the weekend is likely to lead to some transport disruption.

The winds will ease for the start of next week but there will be rain moving east across Ireland on Monday, Met Éireann said.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day will all be mild and mostly cloudy with a fair amount of dry weather and with some light rain or drizzle at times, most likely in western and northern counties.