Michelle McGlynn
A Status Orange wind warning came into effect in Cork, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Kerry and Waterford at 5am this morning.
Met Éireann forecasts severe and damaging gusts of between 100 to 130km/h.
This warning will be in place until 10am this morning.
A separate Status Orange wind warning has been issued for Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Clare beginning at 8am and ending at 4pm.
A Status Yellow wind warning is currently in place for the entire country and this will remain in place until 4pm as Met Éireann forecasts wind speeds of around 50 to 65km/h with severe gusts of around 100km/h.
Some coastal flooding possible also due to the combination of low pressure, high tides and onshore winds.
Evelyn Cusack, head of forecasting with Met Éireann, says people need to be very careful.
"The ground is fairly saturated now after all the recent rain and the trees are still in leaf, they're only half gone really because we haven't had much wind really over the last few weeks.
"You get more trees down when they have more leaves on them so a storm at this time of year can be more potent than a real winter storm."
Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather says there could be damaging gusts - especially near coasts.
Below is the hourly cloud and rainfall forecast from our high resolution HARMONIE model. It covers the period from now up to 06:00 Monday.
Current Warnings: https://t.co/Xg3aMJlyuS
National forecast and outlook: https://t.co/9gKN6SVok4 pic.twitter.com/uoAOI43gMn
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 31, 2020
"Storm Aiden tracked in late last night/early this morning and it has brought some very strong and damaging winds to the south coast and they will move right up across the country through the day. Some heavy rainfall also.
"Gusts of up to 130km/h are possible in the south coast at first and then extending into the west coast but really a very windy day right across the country with some strong and damaging gusts possible in all areas."
The Coast Guard's Deputy Director Gerard O'Flynn is urging the public to take precautions and heed today's weather warnings.
"Met Éireann has been very clear in their weather forecasting and winds of anything up to 90km/h are forecast which is storm force conditions.
"Add to that the weather is still very autumnal in terms of the volume of leaves on the trees and leaves falling. That is going to cause additional problems with regards to flooding.
"Also, high tides could lead to flooding around the country.
"Overall, it is not a time to be out and about."
