Met Éireann has signalled two Status Yellow weather warnings for wind and sea conditions in coastal counties.
The national forecaster said southwest winds will batter parts of the Galway, Mayo and Donegal coasts on Friday with wind speeds reaching 55-65km/h, with gusts of 90-110km/h.
Status Yellow warnings are low level, and advise people to be aware of weather conditions in their area. More severe are orange warnings, which advise people to “be prepared” and red warnings, which advise people to “take action”.
The marine weather warning is for westerly winds reaching strong gale force 9 during the day on Friday, and into the night. The marine notice applies to all coastal waters and on the Irish Sea.
In addition to the winds, Friday is expected to be cold, windy and showery with some good sunny spells.
Afternoon temperatures will reach just 5-8 degrees and it will feel even colder in the strong and gusty westerly winds.
Heavy rain will also move in from the northwest during the day and Friday night will be very windy with scattered heavy showers turning to longer spells of rain in the north. Lowest temperatures remain around 5-8 degrees.
Due to the risk of high winds the Wild Lights event at Dublin Zoo has been cancelled on Friday. A spokesman for the zoo said the decision was taken after consultation with Met Éireann in the interests of public safety. He said full refunds will be made to those who have booked.
The outlook for the island for the coming days is continued windy conditions on Saturday. Saturday is expected to be mostly dry with some bright or sunny spells in the east at first, but showery rain in the west and north will become more widespread during the morning. Westerly winds will increase strong or very strong and gusty again. Top temperatures will be around 8-11 degrees.
Sunday is expected to be a brighter day with some sunny spells and scattered showers, these mainly affecting the west and northwest. West to northwest winds will be moderate to fresh with top temperatures of 7-9 degrees. Sunday night will become mostly dry with good clear spells at first but cloud will increase from the west later. Moderate westerly winds will fall light and it will turn colder with lowest temperatures of 2-6 degrees and a touch of grass frost.
