Three weather warnings have been issued for this weekend

Three weather warnings have been issued for 12 counties ahead of a weekend washout.

The first caution is a yellow weather alert for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow, and comes into effect at 6pm tonight. 25-40 mm of rain is expected over the 24 hour period, with the weather alert ended at 6pm on Saturday. Met Eireann forecast there will be flooding in some areas, with higher amounts like in the Wicklow Mountains. There's an updated status yellow rainfall warning for Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. The caution came into effect at noon today, and will last for 24 hours - until noon on Saturday. There will be flooding in some areas, with 25-40 mm of rain expected during that period. A third weather alert, an updated status yellow warning, is in place for Cork and Kerry. It began at 11am on Friday and is in place until the same time on Saturday. 30-50 mm of rainfall is expected in the area over the 24 hours, with the heaviest rainfall between noon and midnight on Friday. There's a risk of flooding during this time, with the highest risk in south and west Cork as well as south and west Kerry. It comes as the folks at Met Éireann have said that we can expect much colder weather next week with wind and wintry showers 'increasingly more likely'. It's going to affect most of the country but will be heaviest in the north and west. Continuing, they've said:

"Becoming increasingly blustery and showery; showers turning wintry later Monday into Tuesday with falls of sleet and snow increasingly more likely. The focus of the wintry showers will be across the north and west with some accumulations likely - but all areas will be at risk with some thunder occurring locally too. "