Severe winds are expected early next week – with a hurricane building up speed over the Atlantic.
Tropical Storm Ophelia has been upgraded to a category one hurricane but her path is currently unpredictable.
The Coastguard is not expecting any unusual weather this weekend - but has warned that high winds are common at this time of year.
Despite speculation that Ophelia has Ireland in its firing line, the Coastguard has not been alerted to any serious weather warnings.
Ireland is in the cone of uncertainty with Ophelia. Let's hope a storm chaser doesn't get blown off Cliffs of Moher. pic.twitter.com/xWIubNkARq
— Ryan Hanrahan (@ryanhanrahan) October 11, 2017
Gerard O'Flynn is Coastguard Operations Manager:
“Well the current indications are that there will not be a storm around Ireland – but obviously weather conditions at this time of year can change quite quickly,” he said.
“At the moment the weather forecast is for gale-force or near gale-force conditions.
“All mariners will be aware of that – but that would not be exceptionally bad weather for experienced people at this time of the year.
Interests in the eastern Azores should monitor the progress of #Hurricane #Ophelia for possible watches on Thursday https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/HalDW0Rv84
— NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) October 12, 2017
Gerald Fleming, head of forecasting with Met Éireann, said that – like with all major weather events that happen in other areas – they have to look at the possibility of what impact it might have:
“At the moment because it is four days away, there are a lot of possibilities as to how this might evolve,” he said.
“So we are anxious to keep a good eye on this but be aware at the same time that it could be a complete non-event or it could be a severe event.”
Ophelia, the 10th hurricane of the busy 2017 Atlantic season. Will impact Ireland as a strong extratropical storm.https://t.co/lV6OKb9aHC. pic.twitter.com/yNoMdLVXQB
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) October 11, 2017
As a precaution Mr O'Flynn had this advice piece of advice for the public:
“Well when it comes to anything to do with the coast we always say to people, ‘stay back, stay high and stay dry,’” he said.
“Obviously at this time of the year sea conditions are changing very quickly.
“We have reducing daylight and on top of that sea temperatures are dropping so all the normal conditions applying to safety on the sea would apply.”
