Met Éireann dampens Electric Picnic spirits further with orange rain warning
Day two of Electric Picnic is already underway with Picture This and Tame Impala due to headline today. Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie
It's beginning to feel like someone at Met Éireann didn't get their hands on tickets to Electric Picnic this weekend as the national forecaster has just upgraded their yellow rain warning to status orange.
The update covers counties Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath, Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo, Waterford and Laois where the music festival is being held in Stradbally.
Day two of Electric Picnic is already underway with Picture This and Tame Impala due to headline today.
Just as Dermot Kennedy was finishing his set on the main stage last night, the rain started, and it hasn’t stopped since.
While the orange alert doesn't come into effect until 4am on Sunday morning, and is expected to last only a few hours, revellers still have a status yellow warning to contend with for the remainder of the morning
The forecaster says the areas covered by the warning will be subject to heavy rain, including torrential downpours in parts leading to some surface flooding. They also say there is the potential for thunderstorm activity and lightning strikes.
Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather said: "A local intense rainfall of up to 50 millimetres and possible squalls are likely, which will also involve some strong gusts."
Level: Orange
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) September 3, 2022
Type: Rainfall
Local intense rainfall (50mm), and squalls likely.
See yellow warnings also.👇https://t.co/l8JdKfwZt9
Expected Onset: Sunday 4/9/2022 04:00
Expires: Sunday 4/9/2022 08:00 pic.twitter.com/Oj4XckR8qw
As it stands, Saturday will be cloudy and wet for much of the day, with a mix of sunny spells and scattered showers turning heavy and thundery in parts.
Met Éireann says the highest temperatures will remain between 14C and 17C, before dropping to 7C overnight.
Heavy rain is expected then overnight leading us into the status orange rain warning on Sunday morning. Local thunder and lightning activity can be expected, as well as localised flooding in parts.
Temperatures will pick up as the day goes on with highs of between 16C and 20C expected. Conditions are expected to improve as the day goes on with the afternoon and evening being largely sunny.
The HSE has issued its first drugs warning to Electric Picnic festival goers and warned that a double-strength ecstasy tablet may be in circulation.
The drug testing team at the festival said the tablet, known as the Mybrand purple skull pill, contains around two times the average adult dose.
It was identified as part of the first anonymous and real-time drug testing trial at a festival site in Ireland.
Check out the Irish Examiner's WEATHER CENTRE for regularly updated short and long range forecasts wherever you are.
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