Updated at 4.25pm
STORM ABIGAIL – THE first storm to be given a name under the new Anglo-Irish naming system – has swept across the country since this morning.
Wind warnings are in place for much of the country. In Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo, it’s a Status Orange alert – the second most serious warning.
A less serious yellow warning is in place for the rest of the country.
The alerts are in place until 6am tomorrow – but many areas are already feeling the impact of the strong winds.
At Dublin Airport there have been a large number of delays this afternoon, and a small number of incoming domestic and international flights have been cancelled altogether.
An Aer Lingus flight from Donegal – due to land at 3.35pm – was cancelled earlier. This evening, scheduled flights from the Isle of Man (Aer Lingus), Shetland (Eastern Airways) and Frankfurt (Lufthansa) have also been cancelled.
Anyone with travel plans for later this afternoon is being advised to check with their airline, an Airport spokesperson said.
At Ireland West Airport in Knock, two flights were diverted to other airports this morning.
The Ryanair flight from Lanzarote, due to land at 11.30am, was diverted to Dublin. The airline’s service from Liverpool, scheduled for an 11.35am landing, was sent to Shannon.
A spokesperson for the airport wasn’t immediately available to confirm whether the diversions were weather-related. However, strong winds are being reported in the county.
Flights were arriving and departing as normal at Shannon and Cork.
The Road Safety Authority has urged drivers to exercise caution behind the wheel this evening.
Gardaí, meanwhile, are warning people to stay away from exposed coasts and waterways during the stormy weather (they’ve also been making some dreadful jokes).
This is the current forecast from Met Éireann for the rest of the day:
Becoming wet and windy everywhere this afternoon and evening as heavy rain (with occasional thunderstorms) spreads across the country in strong and gusty southerly winds. Highest temperatures of 13 or 14 degrees.
And for tonight:
The rain will clear to heavy showers by early tonight, but it will continue to remain windy and gusty through the night (the wind direction changing to west-southwesterly). A cold night with lowest temperatures of 2 to 4 degrees.
It will remain windy with heavy showers tomorrow morning.
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