Status yellow rain warning issued for three counties

Ellen O'Donoghue

A status yellow rain warning has been issued for three counties.

Galway, Mayo, and Kerry will all come under the warning from midnight tonight for 24 hours.

Met Éireann have warned that spells of heavy rain could lead to localised flooding, poor visibility and hazardous travelling conditions.

Elsewhere in the country, sunshine should continue for a while in the north and east, with cloudier conditions and outbreaks of showery rain continuing to slowly extend northeastwards through Saturday afternoon and evening.

Drier weather with some sunny spells should develop across southwestern and some western countries later, with highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees.

Southerly winds will increase with the rain, before veering southwesterly as the rain clears and decreasing to light to moderate.

Early on Saturday night, it should become mainly dry as rain clears outwards.

However wet and breezy conditions will feed up across the country overnight, turning misty in places too.

Lowest temperatures of 2 to 6 degrees in a freshening southerly wind can be expected.

Sunday is forecast to begin dull and breezy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle, with hill mist and coastal fog too.

It is expected to become windier throughout the day with heavier spells of rain also, especially for southern and western countries with spot flooding later.

Highest temperatures of 10 or 11 degrees are forecast.

Southerly winds are expected to increase from fresh to strong and gusty, reaching near gale to gale force in some coastal parts later.

Monday is forecast to start out largely dry with good sunny spells, becoming cloudier and breezier with some showery outbreaks of rain pushing in from the Atlantic. Much of the southeast is expected to stay dry, though.

Highest temperatures of 9 to 12 degrees with freshening southwest winds are forecast as the country should stay generally dry as winds veer northwest and ease.

Monday night, however, is expected to be dry, cold and clear with frost and icy patches, with lowest temperatures of -2 to +2 degrees in light westerly breezes.