An orange-level weather warning has been issued for the State on Friday with approaching Storm Éowyn expected to bring damaging gusts of 130 km/h and possibly higher in places.
Met Éireann is forecasting the possibility of fallen trees, damage to power lines and power outages from 2am on Friday until 5pm on Friday. The orange warning also refers to difficult travelling conditions, with disruption and cancellation to transport.
A status orange marine warning has also been issued for all coasts of Ireland on the Irish Sea.
Storm Éowyn has the potential to be a very strong storm with heavy rain across the country and sleet and snow especially across west and northwest counties, says Met Éireann.
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The centre of Storm Éowyn will track just off the northwest coast on Friday morning with a swathe of extremely strong and damaging winds extending across the country and bringing disruption.
Gale-force southwest winds over land are forecast to veer westerly by afternoon with storm-force winds likely in some coastal areas.
Showers will turn increasingly wintry as the day progresses, with maximum afternoon temperatures of six to nine degrees but feeling much colder due to the wind-chill factor, according to Met Éireann.
On Friday night, winds will begin to abate but it will stay rather blustery. It will be followed by cold night with clear spells and scattered showers, some wintry. Lowest temperatures of -2 to +3 degrees are expected, with some frost possible towards dawn on Saturday as winds continue to ease.
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