Chance of flooding locally as tail of hurricane Ernesto lands

Weather forecasters are warning of flooding as the tail end of Hurricane Ernesto is set to make landfall here tonight.

Met Éireann has outlined that the remnants of the storm will pass over Ireland on its way to the United Kingdom where the national forecaster there is warning of heavy rain and up to 100kph winds.

Hurricane Ernesto has decimated much of the Caribbean where thousands of people have been left without power in Puerto Rico, while sustained winds reached up to 100mph near Bermuda as the storm passed off the coast and headed east across the Atlantic.

Seasonal predictions anticipate an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2024, where in July Hurricane Beryl became the earliest calendar year ‘category 4’ hurricane on record.

Forecast

Met Éireann admits much uncertainty about the forecast for this week, but still issued a Yellow warning along the coast on Wednesday (August 21), from Erris Head to Rossan Point to Malin Head and also from Belfast Lough to Roches Point and on the Irish Sea, with southwesterly winds reaching up to gale force 8. The last of the overnight rain and strong winds are expected to clear from the east of the country early on Thursday morning, August 22, when the day will be “largely dry with sunny spells and well scattered showers”.

Highest temperatures 16 to 19 degrees, before another spell of “windy and very wet weather” sets in overnight bringing with it a “chance of flooding” in places.

Heavy rain on Friday morning will make way for sunshine and blustery showers, and indications are that these unsettled conditions will persist through the weekend and in to next week also.