Umbrellas and wipers at the ready, gardaí have warned of very poor visibility on Dublin roads as a weather warning for between 25mm and 40mm of rain is in effect.
Met Éireann has issued the warning for Dublin, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork and Waterford until 9am tomorrow .
The forecaster said there may be local spot flooding with the most rainfall expected on the southeast coast.
Ah, that comfortably Irish WEATHER is back...
— Constantin Gurdgiev (@GTCost) October 3, 2014#NationalPotatoDay and rain bucketing down outside. Could today be more Irish?
— TotalProduceIreland (@tpireland) October 3, 2014I think Ireland weather is bi-polar sunny one day gale winds the next
— Martina Guiney\Tank! (@martina_guiney) October 2, 2014The rain will continue overnight in the east and south of the country, but will clear by morning.
Dublin City Council said its staff would monitor the drainage network including rivers and streams. Workers would also available to deal with localised flooding, the council said in a statement.
Gardaí said the rainfall was particularly impacting on visibility on the M50. It urged motorists to slow down and put on their headlights.
“Conditions have deteriorated and roads will be slippy so we’re asking everybody in those poor conditions with less visibility to slow down and travel at a speed that’s safe to do to,” Chief Superintendant Aidan Reid of Dublin Garda traffic corps said.
The Met Éireann rainfall warning is yellow, the lowest of three levels they issue.
The very seasonal damp autumn weather looks set to continue through the weekend and into next week.
Saturday and Sunday will bring bright sunny spells but also some heavy scattered showers and possible hail, with temperatures of 12-13 degrees.
Later on Sunday and Sunday night heavy rain is expected to spread from the southwest with strong to gale force south to south east winds, the forecaster said.
The “very unsettled” weather will continue into next week with showers and longer spells of rain forecast.
The change follows an Indian summer which brought the driest September in at least 28 years across large parts of the country. The Malin Head weather station in Co Donegal reported its driest September since 1933.
October is generally the wettest month of the year. The mean monthly rainfall for October was 79mm between 1981 and 2010.
