There was further misery for people in flood-hit areas of Clare and Galway as Met Éireann issued a status orange weather warning on Tuesday with a storm forecast for Wednesday afternoon and evening.
The Met office issued the Status Orange wind warning for counties along the West coast from Clare to Donegal on Tuesday with the promise of “southerly winds veering southwest of mean speeds of 60 to 65km/h gusting 100 to 110km/h expected, with stronger winds of mean speeds of 65 to 80km/h with gusts of 120km/h at times”.
Winds were set to peak between 4pm and 9pm with the warning in effect until 1pm on Wednesday after which residents of the counties were warned that a developing storm is expected to track to the west and north west on Wednesday afternoon and night.
Meteorologists expect Storm Eva to track to the west and northwest of Ireland bringing severe winds to coastal counties of the west and northwest of Ireland.
Eva is currently developing and Met Éireann has a status yellow weather advisory in place for 1pm on Wednesday to 11pm that night. This is likely to lead to a status orange wind warning coastal counties from Clare northwards.
Daytime Wednesday will be mainly dry and bright in many areas with sunny spells and well scattered showers. However, rain and very strong winds will move in to the west and northwest during the afternoon, with gale force southerly winds developing.Highest temperatures will range from 6 to 10 degrees Celsius.
Wednesday night will start off very windy with strong, gusty southerly winds.Rain will spread eastwards across the country and will be heavy at times. It will clear overnight and winds will ease. It will become cold after the rain clears, with temperatures falling to between 2 and 6 degrees.
Christmas Eve will be cold with a mix of sunny spells and blustery showers.Some of the showers will be of hail or sleet, especially in the west and north. Daytime temperatures of just 4 to 7 degrees with fresh, gusty southwest winds.
Christmas Eve night will be mainly dry with clear spells, but there’ll still be some showers in the west. It will be cold with lowest temperatures of 0 to 3 degrees and with frost developing in places.
Christmas Day will start off cold, bright and sunny in many areas. however, wet and windy weather will develop in the southwest by around noon and will spread northeastwards to all areas through the afternoon and evening. Daytime temperatures will range from 5 to 10 degrees, with strengthening southerly winds.
Saint Stephen’s Day will be mild and breezy.It will be mostly cloudy and mainly dry. Patchy rain or drizzle may affect southern and western coastal areas at times.Highest temperatures will range from 11 to 14 degrees, with fresh southerly winds.
Sunday will continue mild and breezy with some rain for a time in the morning, but with a good deal of dry weather.
The early days of next week will continue mild and unsettled with wet and windy weather at times.