Met Éireann has updated its warnings for southern counties ahead of expected heavy rainfall this weekend, while Ireland may have to brace for more wind and rain next week as the tail end of Hurricane Kirk passes by.
A low pressure system heading toward the country this weekend will be slow moving, Met Éireann said.
Updates from the weather agency's models on Friday morning led forecasters to revise their warnings for the weekend.
The status-orange rainfall warnings for Kerry and Cork were extended for an additional hour to last for 24 hours through all of Saturday.
⚠️Warnings have been updated for the heavy rainfall in Cork, Kerry and Waterford. 🌧️🌧️⚠️
Please check out our Meteorologist's commentary➡️https://t.co/OCGAITP9SH
Updated warnings ⬇️https://t.co/GYji547FKt pic.twitter.com/99gFj8EXhN— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 4, 2024
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The warning for Waterford was elevated to status orange, valid from 12.00pm on Saturday until midnight on Sunday.
Met Éireann said this was due to a combination of factors: heavy rainfall in mountainous regions, soil conditions which have not recovered from last weekend’s rainfall and the heaviest of the rain coinciding with high tide.
Fresh to strong onshore winds will also exacerbate river levels, forecasters said.
Met Éireann's deputy head of forecasting, Liz Coleman, said high pressure in the mid-Atlantic will work in tandem with an area of low pressure further north to drag warm tropical air up over the country.
"As we know, the warmer the air, the higher its ability to hold moisture, so this event has the potential to be quite impactful," she said.
"While much of the west and southwest are forecast to receive over 30mm of rain in a 24-hour period, our models are currently predicting in excess of 50mm of rain over parts of southwest Kerry and west Cork, with higher accumulations possible in mountainous areas."
Meanwhile, potentially disruptive weather is also possible from midweek when the remnants of a major storm sweeps towards northwest Europe.
Hurricane Kirk is currently maintaining category 4 strength in the central North Atlantic Ocean.
Ex-Hurricane Kirk could bring a spell of disruptive weather for the UK from mid to late next week, however there is still a lot of uncertainty 👇 pic.twitter.com/aurGacGR0g
— Met Office (@metoffice) October 4, 2024
The exact track and timing of the ex-hurricane is still uncertain but strong winds and heavy rainfall could be on the cards during a period that is set to be "mostly unsettled," according to the forecaster.
