Storm Aiden prompts nationwide weather alerts for Halloween

If the Level 5 restrictions had not already placed a severe dampener on Halloween the first storm of this winter is on the way prompting orange weather warnings for many counties tomorrow.

The orange alerts – the second highest – are in place for counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry and Waterford between 5am and 10am and in Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Clare between 8am and 4pm, Met Éireann said.

Storm Aiden, the first storm of the 2020/2021 winter season, will bring wind speeds of 65 to 80km/h with severe and damaging gusts of 100 to 130km/h forecast.

The rest of the country has been issued a status yellow alert from 1am on Saturday morning until 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

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Overall, Saturday will be dry with some squally showers throughout the day. It will become drier in the evening with winds tapering off.

Highest temperatures will be between 12 and 15 degrees but turning colder in the evening.

The rain will return on Saturday night starting in Munster, but it will extend nationwide during the night with strong to gale force southerly winds.

Temperatures will drop to between 4 to 7 degrees.

On Sunday, the rain will clear for a time with just the odd shower. However, another band of heavy rain will extend across the country throughout the afternoon and evening.

Maximum temperatures of 10 to 15 degrees with strengthening winds, potentially increasing to gale force.

Rain will continue overnight on Sunday with a risk of localised flooding.

Low pressure systems

Meterologist with Met Éireann, Gavin Gallagher, says there will be three separate low pressure systems tracking close to Ireland “bringing wet, windy and possibly stormy weather” for Halloween weekend.

“Each system is around 24 hours apart...so this is not just one event, but rather a series of low pressure systems affecting us over a three-day period, with cumulative impacts from rainfall, strong winds and high seas”.

Earlier this week, waves of over 18m were seen off the Sligo coast. The dramatic waves were caused by the remnants of Hurricane Epsilon in the Atlantic Ocean.

Met Éireann said the Irish Weather Buoy Network recorded “phenomenal” seas off the west coast on October 27-28th. Individual waves of 20m, 16.9m and 21.7m have also been recorded at these buoys.

A “phenomenal” sea is classified as having a significant wave height of 14m or more. The ex-hurricane Epsilon originally developed off Bermuda before being “consumed” into the jet stream.