Met Éireann has issued a fresh Status Yellow rainfall warning for 20 counties which will remain in place until the early hours of Friday morning, June 19.

Issued at 11:00am this morning, Wednesday, June 17, the weather alert came into effect at 12:00pm today and will remain in place until 3:00am on Friday.

The rainfall warning was issued for counties: Louth; Meath; Dublin; Wicklow; Wexford; Kildare; Carlow; Kilkenny; Laois; Offaly; Westmeath; Longford; Cavan; Monaghan; Leitrim; Roscommon; Sligo; Tipperary; and Waterford.

In affected counties, Met Éireann warns that heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms will occur in places during the period. While some areas will miss the showers where they do occur there will be some torrential downpours, localised flooding and hazardous driving conditions.

A more prolonged and widespread period of heavy rain will occur later tomorrow, the meteorological office added.

This follows an earlier rainfall warning which was issued for seven counties in the east and northern half of the country this morning, which was due to expire at 2:00pm today.

It was also noted that, in Northern Ireland, the UK Met Office has issued a yellow thunderstorm warning for counties Antrim, Armagh and Down. This will be in effect from 12:00pm today through to 11:59pm tonight.