Met Éireann has updated its Status Yellow wind warning to include more counties, with the following areas now impacted: Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Clare, Kerry, Limerick.
The Status Yellow wind warning will come into place from 3:00a.m tonight/tomorrow morning (Saturday, December 21) for the following counties: Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, and Sligo. The warning will stay in place until 2:00p.m on Sunday (December 22).
Counties Clare, Kerry, and Limerick will enter the Status Yellow warning from tomorrow afternoon at 3:00p.m, with the warning remaining in place until 3:00p.m on Sunday.
The national forecaster has warned of sustained strong and gusty westerly winds veering northwesterly coupled with large coastal waves. Winds will peak on Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Potential impacts include waves overtopping and/or sraying, along with fallen trees. Met Éireann has also warned of difficult travelling conditions, especially near coastal areas.
Wind warning
The Met Office in the UK has also issued a Status Yellow weather warning for wind in parts of Northern Ireland for the weekend.
It has said that a period of strong winds on Saturday (December 21) is likely to lead to some transport disruption.
The weather warning affects counties Antrim, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry and will come into effect at 7:00a.m on Saturday and last until midnight on Saturday night.
There is also a Status Yellow gale warning in place from Mizen Head to Erris Head to Fair Head, where winds are expected to reach gale force 8 on Irish coastal waters. This warning will come into place from midnight on Saturday until 5:00p.m.
During the weekend, westerly winds, becoming northwesterly, will reach gale force 8 or strong gale force 9 on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea.
Nationally, the weekend weather forecast looks set to bring a mix of wet and windy weather in parts of the country.
Tonight will start off mainly dry. Rain and drizzle will develop in the north-west towards midnight and will spread south-eastwards across the country overnight.