The UK Met Office has issued an updated yellow weather warning for Northern Ireland, extending the advisory by three hours, saying strong and gusty southerly winds may cause disruption to transport and infrastructure.
The warning is now in place from 6:00am to 1:00pm tomorrow, Friday 21 February.
A Met Office spokesperson commented:
“A spell of strong and gusty southerly winds is expected and will likely coincide with rush hour on Friday. Gusts of 45-55 mph are likely across the warning area, with exposed coasts and hills of counties Down and Antrim perhaps seeing gusts of 65 mph.
“Winds will quickly ease from the west during the early afternoon.”
A further yellow weather warning has been issued for Sunday (23 February) advising strong winds may lead to some disruption across Northern Ireland.
The warning is effective for all counties, and in place from 3:00am to 3:00pm.
The Met Office spokesperson added:
“Southerly winds are expected to increase through Sunday morning, peaking late morning to early afternoon with gusts of 50-60mph, and perhaps as much as 70mph on the exposed Irish Sea coastline and some other areas of high ground.
“Rain will accompany strong winds, which will make for very poor weather conditions, especially on roads.
“Winds are expected to ease slowly through the afternoon.”