Ireland is set to be battered by double storms this week, with heavy rain, flooding and snow all forecast.
Storm Dudley is due to make landfall on Wednesday afternoon with a nationwide Status Yellow weather warning issued by Met Eireann.
Less than 24 hours later, Storm Eunice will hit. Met Eireann has said: “It has the potential to be a multi-hazard and disruptive event with damaging winds, heavy rain and snow possible.”
Currently, a weather advisory has been issued for the entire country for Storm Eunice on Thursday and Friday - however the National Forecaster has said that weather warnings will be issued on Wednesday morning and updated on Thursday morning.
Whether or not schools will close may depend on the status of the weather warnings issued.
The last storm-related school closure was in December when Storm Barra wreaked havoc on the country.
Schools, creches and third-level institutions in counties under red and orange weather warnings were advised to close for a number of days by the Department of Education.
As of 10am on Wednesday, the Department of Education has not yet issued any guidance for schools in relation to Storm Dudley or Storm Eunice.
Met Eireann has three categories of weather warnings - Status Yellow, Status Orange and Status Red.
According to the Government’s Be Winter Ready campaign, Status Yellow is to notify those who are at risk because of their location and/or activity, and to allow them to take preventative action.
Yellow alerts are for weather conditions that do not pose an immediate threat to the general population, but only to those exposed to risk by nature of their location and/or activity.
The category of Status Orange level weather warnings is for weather conditions which have the capacity to impact significantly on people in the affected areas. It implies that all recipients in the affected areas should prepare themselves in an appropriate way for the anticipated conditions.
Status Red, the highest alert, is for severe weather such as a comparatively rare event, and implies that recipients take action to protect themselves and their properties. This could be by moving their families out of the danger zone temporarily, by staying indoors or by other specific actions aimed at mitigating the effects of the weather conditions.
A nationwide Status Yellow alert for Storm Dudley comes into force at noon on Wednesday for 24 hours.
Issuing the notice, Met Eireann warned: “Westerly winds associated with Storm Dudley will reach mean speeds of 50 – 65km/h with damaging gusts of 80 – 110km/h, stronger on exposed coasts and on high ground.
“A combination of high tide and strong winds will lead to flooding on exposed coasts.”
Storm Dudley will be closely followed by Storm Eunice - which has been described as “a multi-hazard and disruptive event”.
A weather advisory for the entire country reads: “Thursday night and Friday, Storm Eunice will track eastwards over Ireland. It has the potential to be a multi-hazard and disruptive event with damaging winds, heavy rain and snow possible.
“Current indications are that the strongest winds are most likely to affect southern counties and the most significant falls of snow are most likely over central and northern parts of the country with locally blizzard conditions possible for a time and disruption to travel.”
More weather warnings are due to be issued throughout Wednesday and Thursday.
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