Further warnings are expected ahead of Tuesday’s “significant and severe” weather event.
The Head of Forecasting at Met Éireann has warned about a considerable “danger to life” as Storm Barra draws near to Ireland.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Evelyn Cusack described the still-forming storm as “what the Americans would call a ‘weather bomb'” while spelling out the numerous risks associated with it.
The national forecaster has already put a number of weather warnings in place for Tuesday’s anticipated event, including Status Orange wind warnings and a Status Red marine warning.
Further advisories are anticipated, with Cusack labelling Storm Barra as a “significant and severe” weather event.
“We’d ask people to be very careful tomorrow and take preventative action today – tie everything down, take in furniture… but the storm is likely to hit the west coast just before 4am or 5am, certainly before dawn, and quickly extend across the country tomorrow morning,” Cusack said on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 on Monday.
Cusack noted that the conditions could be “quite blizzardy” over Donegal, Sligo and the northwest for a few hours on Tuesday and told listeners to expect “a very bad morning” in general.
Met Éireann has issued several new weather warnings, ranging from Status Red to Status Orange to Status Yellow – all of which are detailed here.
Of paramount importance to Met Éireann is to highlight the risks associated with the storm.
“The fact is there’s a storm crossing Ireland so it’s going to be a very poor day tomorrow; quite dangerous conditions driving and also tomorrow night and certainly up to midday Wednesday,” she said.
“What it means is that there is a danger to life, there is a risk of flooding – very heavy rain, up to 70 millimetres. As I mentioned, there will be some snow. It also is coinciding with high tides.”
Cusack warned of “multiple hazards” that emergency services across the country are currently preparing for.
The only Status Red warning presently flagged by the forecaster at the time of writing on Monday afternoon is a marine warning, applicable to coastal waters from Mizen Head to Loop Head to Slyne Head.
The warning, which is valid from 3am until 11pm on Tuesday, states that winds are expected to reach storm force 11 amidst “violent” storm conditions.
An #Orange wind warning is in place for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick & Galway tomorrow as #StormBarra brings damaging gusts around 130km/hr⚠️
🚗 difficult driving conditions & travel disruption
🏠 damage to power lines
🌊 dangerous conditions at sea & coastal flooding pic.twitter.com/LCbZZ5nX54— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) December 6, 2021
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