Met Éireann has today (September 14) issued a status yellow wind warning to four counties on the west coast of Ireland.

The warning applies to Co. Clare, Co. Kerry, Co. Galway, and Co. Mayo, and will come into place at 9:00p.m tonight (Sunday), and run until 6:00a.m on Monday (September 15).

According to Met Éireann, adverse weather conditions may lead to difficult travelling conditions, and debris from loose objects being displaced.

Met Éireann has also put a potato blight advisory into effect. The advisory came into effect yesterday (Saturday, September 13).

Separately, on Friday (September 12) Uisce Éireann issued a fresh nationwide appeal to people to "to conserve water through the autumn" despite the recent rainy weather.

Water Conservation Orders (WCOs) - or hosepipe bans as they are better known - are currently in place for three public water supplies in counties Meath, Westmeath, and Donegal.

According to Uisce Éireann, these are now set to be extended for a further four weeks until October 13.

These extensions apply to the following supplies:

Kells–Oldcastle, Co. Meath;
Mullingar, Co. Westmeath;
Milford, Co. Donegal.

The national water utility said it took the decision to extend the WCOs in these counties because of "continued monitoring which shows that water levels in the lakes supplying these areas remain critically low".

It said one of reasons for this is that the long-term effects of a dry autumn, winter, and spring – followed by the warmest summer on record - have left these sources "significantly depleted".

According to Uisce Éireann, lakes - like for example Lough Colmcille in Co. Donegal - are fed by underground springs or have small catchments and can take considerably longer to recharge than other sources - which means recovery will be slow even with wetter weather conditions.

Although the hose pipe ban remains in place for three public water supplies in counties Meath, Westmeath and Donegal, Uisce Éireann has confirmed that it will be lifted in counties Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and Cork on September 16 and will not be extended.