LAST UPDATE | 4 Nov 2019

A STATUS YELLOW rainfall warning has been issued for five counties in the greater Dublin region.

The warning is in place for Dublin, Meath, Wicklow, Kildare and Louth.

It kicked in at 8am and is effective until 9 o’clock tonight, with Met Éireann expecting spells of heavy rain with a risk of spot flooding in affected counties.

The Road Safety Authority has advised drivers to avoid crossing roads covered in water, saying they should use alternative routes or to wait until water levels drop.

Motorists are reminded that they should drive one car at a time if roads are partially flooded, and that if roads are near a river that has burst its banks, they should be avoided entirely because the current could be strong enough to carry vehicles away.

Elsewhere across the country, it will be a misty and mostly cloudy start in most parts, with a few patches of fog.

There will be occasional showers and a few sunny spells in counties not affected by the warning, with top temperatures of between 8 and 11 degrees Celsius.

Cloud and outbreaks of rain will persist in eastern coastal counties tonight, but there will be drier and clearer conditions elsewhere, with temperatures falling to between 3 and 7 degrees.

Tomorrow will see showers continue along parts of the east coast, which will clear later on Tuesday morning to leave a largely dry day across the country.

Cloudy conditions will prevail near the east coast, but sunny spells will occur in most other places, with temperatures expected to reach as high as 11 degrees Celsius.