Storm Ciaran: Wet and windy weather to remain ahead of storm on Wednesday

The wet, windy and unsettled weather that led to flooding in parts of Cork on Sunday will continue next week as Storm Ciaran arrives on Wednesday, Met Éireann has warned.

There will be heavy showers and longer spells of rain at times over Ireland with flooding likely in places, as soils are saturated and river levels are high on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Met Éireann has a status yellow rain warning in place for Kerry from noon on Tuesday to noon on Wednesday. A special advisory is in place for the whole country on Wednesday and on Thursday when Storm Ciaran will bring falls of heavy rain and strong winds. The forecast suggests the heaviest rain and strongest winds will be in Munster and Leinster with flooding likely.

A status yellow rain warning was in place for Cavan, Monaghan, Connacht, Longford, Louth, and Westmeath on Sunday, with heavy and prolonged showers forecast. Met Éireann meteorologist Brandon Creagh said a number of locations recorded rainfall of 20mm over the weekend, which was less than expected but that wet soil and high tides have increased the risk of flooding.

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“We had a number of status yellow rain warnings, and that was due to quite a few heavy showers around. The soils are so saturated at the moment that anything that does fall can tip us into flooding territory. There are also very high tides at the moment, which are causing issues in coastal areas as well. It will stay very unsettled for the rest of the week, with low pressures systems staying over the country.”

Mr Creagh said showers would move up over the country from the south on Monday, starting in Cork before making their way north gradually through the day, with the potential for them to turn thundery.

After that a secondary low pressure will move in from the Atlantic bringing more wet and windy conditions, while, on Wednesday Storm Ciarán will make landfall. “There is still uncertainty over the track of that system at the moment,” said Mr Creagh.

Meanwhile, there is an amber rain warning for Antrim, Armagh, Down in place from 9pm on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.