Met Éireann has issued a Status Yellow thunderstorm warning.

The warning has been issued for counties Clare, Kerry and Limerick.

The warning is in place from this afternoon (Wednesday, August 26) until 7:00p.m.

Heavy thunderstorms can be expected locally with lightning, spot flooding and gusty winds.

Rain warning

A Status Yellow rain warning will come into effect tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) for counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork and Waterford.

Until 3:00a.m on Friday, there will be spells of heavy rain with a possibility of thunderstorms.

Potential impacts include: localised flooding; outdoor events impacted; and difficult travelling conditions.

Some rain may be welcome in the south-east of the country, which has been heavily impacted by drought and exceptionally dry weather in recent weeks.

Fodder

Last week the National Fodder and Food Security Committee (NFFSC) heard that one-in-five of farms surveyed by Teagasc have fewer than 100 days feed available.

Dr. Joe Patton, head of Dairy Knowledge at Teagasc, also told the committee that overall, 12% of farms in the country are currently 20% short of fodder.

This figure is based on a survey carried out by Teagasc of 396 dairy and drystock farms spread across regions.

Recovery

Last week the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA), Denis Drennan, warned that the fodder deficit was widening.

He told Agriland that the focus should now be on growing as much additional fodder as possible in Ireland over the next two months to help bridge the gap.

Speaking on his farm - where the "last meaningful rainfall" was on June 19 - Drennan said it was going to "take lot of rain" for his farm to recover.