LAST UPDATE | 26 Aug

A STATUS YELLOW rain warning has been issued for six counties, taking effect from Thursday afternoon, while a thunderstorm warning is already in place for Clare, Kerry and Limerick.

This comes amid a “very mixed” forecast for Stradbally, Co Laois, where tens of thousands of fans are expected to descend upon the town for the festival Electric Picnic.

Met Éireann forecaster Deirdre Lowe told The Journal that the weekend’s forecast for Stradbally will see spells of rain across each day of the festival. 

Thursday evening and night will see some rain, which is likely to clear away on Friday morning.

Festival goers will see some sunshine during the day on Friday, with intermittent showers, while rain will come in towards the end of the night and may fall during Lewis Capaldi’s set. 

Saturday will see a showery start to the day, with the weather expected to improve during the afternoon. The skies will stay clear throughout the evening for the Mary Wallopers, CMAT and Gorillaz.

Sunday will be a “dull and wet day”, seeing a band of low pressure and rain that will move away and change to lighter showers as the day goes on, with a breezy final night for festival goers. 

As fans start to pack away their tents and embark on their journeys home, Monday’s weather will clear and be largely dry and breezy. 

Meanwhile, heavy rain with potential thunderstorms has been forecast for neighbouring counties Carlow and Kilkenny, as well as Cork, Wexford, Wicklow and Waterford.

It will be active from midday Thursday until 3am Friday.

Met Éireann said that difficult travelling conditions can be expected for the five counties under the weather alert, with localised flooding and an impact also likely for outdoor events.

A Status Yellow thunderstorm warning for Clare, Kerry and Limerick came into effect this afternoon and will stay in place until 4.30pm on Saturday.

With reporting by Ottoline Spearman