RESIDENTS OF SEVEN counties are being warned to continue taking precautions until this afternoon as strong winds batter the west coast.

Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Clare and Kerry are still under a Status Yellow alert from Met Éireann as the weather forecasting service says gusts of between 90 and 110km per hour are expected along coastal areas. The alert is valid until 4pm.

The rest of the country woke to a cold and bright New Year’s Day although Ulster and Connacht are particularly prone to showers and a risk of hail or thunder that will die out towards the later afternoon.

There are a few power outages due to temporary faults but ESB Networks say they hope to have these rectified by lunchtime today – these are in Newport, Co Mayo, Gurranebane and Kilgarvan in Kerry and Loughshinny, outside Skerries, Co Dublin.

We can expect more rain spreading from the west across the rest of the country later tonight while it will turn cooler again on Friday with a northerly wind incoming and clear skies at night.

A supermoon is due to peak in the early hours of tomorrow morning over Ireland – there are two such supermoons in 2018; the second is also this month, on the very last day of January.