Weather warning issued: five counties are at risk of flooding and heavy rain

Many parts of the country had an unexpectedly balmy weekend.

However, it's now about to get rather wet, with Met Éireann issuing a status yellow rainfall warning on Monday morning. The warning will affect five counties: Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal and will be active from 1pm on Monday until 5am on Tuesday. Rainfall of 25 to 40 mm is expected is some areas along with a chance of local flooding. On Sunday, a warning was issued by Met Éireann for just Mayo and Galway - but that warning has now been extended.

 Two separate depressions in the Atlantic are also thought to be heading towards Ireland and are predicted to arrive in the next few days.

While some outlets have already begun referring to depressions in the Atlantic as Storm Ali and Storm Bronagh, Met Éireann has said that neither have actually been named yet. Meanwhile, the Midlands Weather Channel has expanded its own warning to Wexford, Waterford, Wicklow, and Dublin, saying:

"Details are becoming increasingly clear as to the potential track and intensity of ex-tropical storm Helene as it makes its way across Ireland over the coming 36 hours.

"The strongest of the winds are likely to occur across the south and east coasts, where wind speeds could gust to in excess of 120kph. Further inland maximum gusts could reach as high as 100-110 kph for a time on Monday night. "Heavy and at times intense rainfall is also likely from storm Helene, with some localised flooding likely in places. All areas are at risk of seeing some torrential rain associated with this storm."