Yellow weather warning for 5 counties in place until late Thursday

Met Éireann has a Status Yellow rainfall warning for five counties in the greater Dublin region until late Thursday evening.

The warning is in place for Dublin, Meath, Wicklow, Kildare and Louth, and was effective from 6pm yesterday evening. It will remain in place until 9 o’clock on Thursday night.

Thursday will start mostly cloudy and rather wet with showery outbreaks of rain, with heavy downpours and spot flooding expected in parts of Leinster, according to the national forecaster.

Status Yellow – Rainfall warning for Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow and Meath pic.twitter.com/HmYKP6QV7t

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) November 6, 2019

Motorists are reminded to slow down on wet roads (and allow plenty of extra room between your vehicle and the one in front), as it takes around twice as long to stop when roads are wet. Drivers are also advised that they should drive in single file if roads are partially flooded, and that if roads are near a river that has burst its banks, they should be avoided entirely.

Going into Thursday night, it will become dry in most areas, with a few scattered showers along northern and western coasts.  Temperatures are set to drop and it will be cold, with frost and a risk of icy and fog patches. It could reach as low as minus three.

Winter-ready

As part of the winter-ready campaign, Met Éireann is issuing leaflets explaining the three weather warnings. Status yellow is for weather which is not life-threatening but is potentially dangerous on a localised scale. Status orange is where there is a threat to life and property and people should think twice about venturing out. A status red warning is for people to stay indoors and not go out in any circumstances.

Related: ‘A precaution’: Boil water notice re-issued for 600,000 people

Early in the week, Irish water announced that heavy rainfall caused increased turbidity (cloudy water containing suspended particles) at the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant, leading to a boil water notice for more than 600,000 people in the greater Dublin area.

It is not known whether the latest warning will cause the boil water notice to be extended. Irish Water has said they would be monitoring the situation closely.

Main photograph: Unsplash

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