A rare Status Red Weather Warning for wind has been issued by Met Éireann for two counties as Storm Barra approaches Ireland.
The warning has been issued for counties Cork and Kerry. It will come into effect at 6:00a.m tomorrow morning (Tuesday, December 7) – the same time as Status Orange and Yellow Warnings take effect in the rest of the country – and will remain in place until 9:00p.m tomorrow night.
Southwesterly winds later veering northwesterly will reach mean speeds in excess of 80km/h in these counties, with severe or damaging gusts in excess of 130km/h.
Due to a combination of high waves, storm surge and high tide, coastal flooding is expected. Disruption to power and travel is likely.
When the Status Red Warning lifts, Cork and Kerry will revert to a Status Orange condition until 6:00a.m Wednesday morning, pending any further update from Met Éireann.
In another update, a Status Orange Warning for wind has now been issued for counties Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, Dublin, Meath, Louth and Mayo (a Status Orange warning was already issued for counties Galway, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Kerry).
The Status Orange warning for Clare, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Mayo and Wexford (as well as Cork and and Kerry when they are not on Status Red) will come into effect at 6:00a.m tomorrow morning and remain in place until 6:00a.m Wednesday morning, at which point these counties will revert to a Status Yellow condition.
The Status Orange warning for Dublin, Louth, Wicklow and Meath will come into effect at 8:00a.m tomorrow morning, and will remain in place until 1:00p.m tomorrow afternoon. Again, these counties will thereafter be under Status Yellow.
In these counties, southeasterly winds (veering northwesterly in the west and southeast of the country) will reach mean speeds of 65 to 80km/h, with severe or damaging gusts of 100 to 130km/h, with localised stronger winds likely (and severe gusts on western and southeastern coasts).
Due to a combination of high waves, storm surge and high tide, coastal flooding is expected in these areas. Disruption to power and travel is likely.
As for that Status Yellow warning for wind and rain, that takes effect in all counties from 2:00a.m tomorrow morning, and will remain in place for almost 48 hours, until 6:00p.m Wednesday evening.
All counties mentioned above will be under Status Yellow for that period except when under a higher warning level.
Where counties are on Status Yellow, Storm Barra will bring widespread mean speeds of 50 to 65km/h and gusts of 90km/h to 110km/h with localised stronger winds likely.
Heavy rain will also bring risks of surface flooding and, due to a combination of high waves, storm surge and high tide, coastal flooding is expected. Disruption to power and travel are again likely.
Meanwhile, the Met Office in the UK has issued a Yellow warning for all six counties in Northern Ireland. In these counties, strong winds and heavy rain will bring a risk of some travel disruption and flooding.
The warning for Northern Ireland comes into effect at 6:00a.m tomorrow and will remain in effect until 9:00a.m Wednesday morning.