Yellow-level rainfall warning extended to Westmeath

The summer has been a damp squib, weather wise, and the unsettled conditions are continuing to cause problems, with yellow-level rainfall warning currently in effect for much of the country, including Westmeath.

Met Éireann said "intense and potentially thundery downpours" would occur throughout Thursday and on into tonight. River levels are already very high for this time of year, and there are concerns that the further rainfall could lead to river flooding in some areas.

This is the latest in a series of weather warnings issued during the month of August. When the yellow-level warning was initially announced, yesterday, it related to Munster and a number of counties in Leinster, but didn't include Westmeath.

Met Éireann has since revised the weather warning and it now covers all of Munster and all of Leinster.

The rainfall warning came into effect at 6am this morning and will remain in place until 6am tomorrow (Friday).

Further showers are expected on Friday but the weekend is then expected to be mostly dry, albeit quite cool for this time of year.