Met Éireann has issued a status yellow weather warning, with strong winds and heavy rainfall expected to continue across the western and north western regions today.

Gusts of over 85km per hour hit parts of the country overnight and Met Éireann is predicting that the windy conditions will continue for much of the weekend.

The weather service is predicting southerly winds will gust to speeds of 80 to 90km per hour at times today and will get to between 90 and 100 km per hour along the west coast from late this afternoon.

Meanwhile, a yellow rainfall warning also remains in place for western coastal counties

Heavy showers or prolonged spells of rain in Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Clare, Cork and Kerry are forecasted to bring rainfall totals of 30 to 50 mm over the weekend, with a possibility of up to 60 mm in mountainous areas.