When is 'Storm Ciara' and the worst of the weather set to arrive?
Storm Ciara set to batter parts of Northern Ireland ⚠️💨🍃
Last updated 8th Feb 2020
Hold on to your hats, The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for strong winds as Storm Ciara is expected hit bringing possible disruption this weekend.
According to forecasters; "Winds will strengthen through Saturday evening with gusts of 50-60mph likely inland, and 75mph around coastal areas of Northern Ireland."
Heavy rain, surface water and spray will exacerbate poor travel conditions.
The winds will ease from the west during the night however it will turn increasingly windy again by midday Sunday with stronger gusts of 80mph expected across some Irish Sea coasts.
The storm was named by Met Éireann, who have issued status orange weather warnings covering all counties in the Republic of Ireland.
The adverse weather could impact travel plans.
"Some short term loss of power is likely."
"Road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible. Some roads and bridges may close."
"Winds will lead to large waves affecting coasts and the possibility of waves overtopping some coastal routes."
The warning comes into effect from 12:00 Saturday lasting through until 23:59 Sunday.
Once Storm Ciara clears there's further wintry weather forecast for the start of next week, with parts of Northern Ireland, especially areas of higher ground, seeing snow showers on Monday and Tuesday.
STORM NAMES FOR THE 2019/2020 SEASON
This is the third named storm of the winter season following Storm Atiyah in December.
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 ‘female’ and named Atiyah, while the second storm will be ‘male’ and named Brendan, following the alternating male/female pattern established by the US National Hurricane Center in the 1970s.