Rain warning in place for Dublin, Wicklow ahead of storm

A Status Yellow rain warning for counties Dublin and Wicklow is in effect ahead of the arrival of the first named storm of the season tomorrow.

The yellow alert is valid from 1am until 8am.

Met Éireann said heavy rain could lead to travel disruption and localised flooding.

Separately, the forecaster said Storm Austen is due to hit the country tomorrow, with the forecaster issuing a Status Yellow rain warning for all counties.

It said the heavy rain associated with the storm will spread eastwards throughout the day.

This, it said, could impact outdoor events, lead to difficult travelling conditions and localised flooding.

Ailís Hankinson, operational meteorologist with Met Éireann, said "it is possible that there may be updates" to the warning associated with Storm Austen "over the coming days".

"It looks like the south of Ireland will feel the worst impacts and as a result, there may be upgraded warnings," she said.

Ms Hankinson said rain will hit the southwest of Ireland first "and will make its way across Ireland, based on the latest model that we have".

She added that by 8am on Friday, people can expect rainfall associated with the storm to gradually clear, with blustery showers following for the remainder of the day.

Ms Hankinson said Storm Austen was named by the UK Met Office as the UK will see the worst impacts of the storm in relation to winds.

Met Éireann, the UK Met Office and the Netherlands meteorological service, KNMI, launched the list of names for the 2026/27 storm season, with each of the national partners contributing seven names, according to the forecaster.

The name Austen was submitted by Met Éireann.

It said Austen H Nagle was the first director of Irish Meteorological Service and worked in the British Meteorological Office from 1927 to 1936.

He later took up a senior post in the United States Weather Bureau, it added.

Additional reporting Éilís Sheehy