A ‘serious storm’ is forecast to pass by the north of the country next week with experts keeping a close watch on any changes in direction.
And while weather chiefs hope the storm will stay well clear, they predict it could bring strong winds to Irish shores.
Alan O'Reilly of Carlow Weather said: "The latest ECWMF weather model forecast continues to show a serious storm passing to North of Ireland on Wednesday.
“Hopefully it will stay well North of us but certainly one to watch and could bring strong winds here.”
Meanwhile, Met Eireann are forecasting unsettled weather this weekend with winds becoming ‘increasingly windy’ on Friday and reaching near gale force on the west coast overnight.
The forecaster said: “Cloud will build from the west through the morning with rain moving into the west by midday, which will slowly [spread] eastwards across the country through the day. Becoming increasingly windy too, with southerly winds increasing fresh to strong and gusty with gales developing on Atlantic coasts.”
They continued: “A wet and windy [night] tonight with widespread rain and strong and gusty southerly winds, reaching near gale force along western coasts. The rain will be persistent in parts of the west bringing a risk of localised flooding.”
In the meantime, temperatures over the weekend will get as mild as 11C on Saturday afternoon which is set to also bring some sunny spells with outbreaks of rain in the southeast.
Sunday’s forecast is still uncertain but could see heavy rain in some parts of the country with highest temperatures of 7C to 10C during the day, dropping to 2C overnight.
Met Eireann said: “Some uncertainty in the forecast for Sunday but it looks like outbreaks of rain will move up over the country with some heavy bursts in places. The rain looks set to clear northwards in the evening with scattered showers moving into the west.”
The national forecaster’s outlook for next week is showing indications that it will be mild, wet and breezy for midweek.
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