Barra blowing in before breakfast

Image: Windfinder.com, at 11pm.

Better take in those blow-up Santas from the garden before going to bed tonight, as storm Barra will barrel in before breakfast and could send them flying without any need for magic airborne sleighs, writes Brian Byrne.

At the moment Barra is moving closer to the west of Ireland, now showing speeds of 128km/h.

The Road Safety Authority has issued a red weather warning for Kerry, Cork and Clare, and an orange alert for the coastal counties of the south-east and the Irish Sea. Kildare is in the remainder of the country's yellow alert.

South-easterly winds, later veering north-westerly will reach mean speeds of 65-80km/h with severe or damaging gusts of 100-130km/h, with localised stronger winds likely and severe gusts on coasts.

In Kildare there are forecast strong to high winds, peaking at over 61km/h around lunchtime. Gusts of up to 89km/h are expected.

The warning is in place from 6am Tuesday 7 December until 6am Wednesday 8 December.

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