Additional reporting by Cillian Doyle.
A status yellow weather warning has been issued with unseasonably wet and windy conditions forecast for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo and Wexford.
The warning from Met Éireann, issued on Sunday, is now in place and set to last until 10pm on Monday night.
Southwesterly winds, veering northerly through Monday, will reach average speeds of 50 to 65 km/h with gusts up to 100 km/h, particularly in coastal areas and on higher ground, according to the meteorological service.
BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY: Wet🌧️& windy🍃start, risk of spot flooding. Highs of 10 to 12C.
TUESDAY: Cool & blustery with sunshine🌦️& widespread showers🌧️. Highs of 7 to 11C.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Showers🌧️confined to NW, long clear spells developing generally. Cold with lows of -1 to +2C. pic.twitter.com/IgeYM8M6fp
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) May 3, 2021
Heavy rain in conjunction with the wind will lead to spot flooding. There is a risk of wave overtopping in coastal areas.
There is also a warning of gales for all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea.
Southwesterly winds veering northerly will reach strong gale force at times on Monday on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea, said the service.
Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather has the outlook for today:
"A very wet and windy start to today, a yellow wind and rain warning came into operation from 3am this morning for western and southern coastal counties - it's going to be a very wet and windy morning and early afternoon - and while the worst of the rain will slowly clear east to a mix of sunny spells and showers the stong wind will persist for most of the day."
I hope you secured that garden furniture 😬
Wind staying strong through today and even increasing again later this afternoon and evening. pic.twitter.com/xYeHE7wr2H— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) May 3, 2021
