Brace yourselves, a hurricane could be headed Ireland’s way next week

Batten down the hatches.

Hurricane Gaston, the first Category 3 hurricane of the Atlantic season, could potentially make its presence felt in Ireland next week. The hurricane formed off the coast of Florida and is set to head north eastwards across the Atlantic over the coming days, potentially bringing winds of up to 70mph to Ireland by next week.

Pic via National Hurricane Center

It is unclear at this stage the path that Gaston will take and although it is expected to have weakened by the time it comes across the Atlantic, it could still make for some temperamental weather conditions in early September. https://twitter.com/breakingweather/status/770022405112733697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/fergieweather/status/768805296445816832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw A spokesperson for MeteoGroup, an independent weather forecaster, is quoted as saying in the Daily Record: "Hurricane Gaston is the latest hurricane to develop in the Atlantic and has reached its peak with gusts up to 85 to 90mph, although this system is expected to slowly weaken and track north-westwards,” "It will eventually head north then north eastwards towards to the UK as a low pressure system, potentially disrupting our weather next week." Met Éireann, meanwhile, have predicted a decent week on the weather front, with sunny spells on Monday and Tuesday before spells of heavy rain on Tuesday night. The rain is set to clear on Wednesday and conditions will be mostly dry on Thursday, before showers arrive throughout the country on Friday… just in time for Electric Picnic.