Weather updates: Wet conditions to persist with risk of localised flooding in south

The unsettled weather is set to continue into the coming weekend, although heavy rain is forecast to ease off over St Patrick’s Day, Met Éireann has said.

A status yellow weather warning is to come into effect for counties Cork, Kerry and Waterford from 4pm on Wednesday, due to persistent rainfall expected in the south of the country.

The forecaster said the heavy rain will pose a risk of localised flooding and create difficult travel conditions today and over Wednesday night.

An existing status yellow warning for snow and ice remains in place across Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim and Sligo until noon today.

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The weather advisory said sleet and snow on roads on Wednesday morning could lead to hazardous driving conditions.

Met Éireann has said Thursday is due to be a cloudy day, as rain clears in the northern and eastern parts of the country. The weather will be a mix of heavy showers but also some sunny spells in places.

The outlook heading into the weekend is for milder weather, although the forecaster said there will still be some rain showers.

The forecast for St Patrick’s Day is a showery day with some sunny spells breaking up the rain. However, in some places rain showers will be much heavier and prolonged, Met Éireann said.

Friday night will see much the same mix of clear spells and some rain showers, with mist and fog as well.

On Saturday there will be sunshine and some showers of rain later in the day, while the initial outlook for Sunday is another wet day of rain.

The UK Met Office has a status yellow rain warning in place for Northern Ireland until 10am on Thursday, warning persistent rain may lead to difficult travel conditions.