Storm Hannah warning as heavy rain set to batter Northern Ireland tonight
A wet start to the weekend for many... ⚠️💨🌲🍃
Hold on to your hats, after a glorious Easter weekend with record breaking temperatures and wall-to-wall sunshine, the harsh wintry weather looks set to make a brief return.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for blustery conditions and heavy rain as a deep area of low pressure is expected hit bringing possible disrupting to Northern Ireland tonight.
According to forecasters; "A band of rain will move east across Northern Ireland from the early hours of Saturday, turning heavier and more persistent in places through the morning. Many areas will see 20mm of rain in total, though a few spots could see 30 to 40 mm within around 6 hours. The rain will clear the northeast coast by mid-afternoon."
The warning comes into effect from midnight lasting through until 15:00 Saturday
The adverse weather could impact morning travel and sporting fixtures.
"Expect spray and flooding on roads, bus and train services could be affected with journey times taking longer"
"Flooding of a few homes and businesses is likely."
So how's the rest of the weekend shaping up?
NORTHERN IRELAND WEEKEND FORECAST
Friday - Mainly cloudy with a few showers, brightening up for a time in the afternoon before more persistent rain arrives in the evening. High 13°C
Saturday - A very wet and windy start on Saturday, touching gale force along the North Coast then a sunnier afternoon to follow. High 12°C
Sunday - Bright spells but a few showers will occasionally develop. High 12°
STORM NAMES FOR THE 2018/2019 SEASON
Storms are named by the Met Office or, in Ireland, Met Eireann, in order to raise public awareness of approaching bad weather.
In September, the Met Office and Met Éireann unvealed a list of the names of this seasons storms.
First introduced in 2015, this is the fourth year they have jointly run the ‘Name our Storms’ scheme, aimed at raising awareness of severe weather before it hits.
The first storm was ‘male’ and named Ali, while the second storm will be ‘female’ and named Bronagh, following the alternating male/female pattern established by the US National Hurricane Center in the 1970s.