Met Eireann increases wind warning to Orange alert for Donegal

Met Éireann has upgraded its wind warning to the second most serious alert – orange.

The national weather forecaster announced the increased status orange wind warning for three counties – Donegal, Galway and Mayo on top of the status yellow warning for the rest of the country.

The forecaster says Storm Erik will bring winds that will reach average speeds of 65 to 80km/h.
They say that there will be some severe or damaging gusts of 110 to 130 km/h.

The highest winds will be in exposed coastal areas, where the mentioned wind speeds may be exceeded at times.

Met Éireann is warning of very high seas as well with some coastal flooding.

The warning is in place for Mayo and Galway from Friday at 5am until 1pm and for Donegal from Friday at 9am until Saturday at 6am.

There is a status yellow wind warning for the rest of the country which has been updated today.
Met Éireann says: “Southwest to west winds will reach mean speeds of 50 to 65 km/h with gusts of 80 to 110 km/h.”

It added: “Along exposed Atlantic coasts these values may be exceeded for a while and with very high seas this will give the risk of coastal flooding.”