There's a wind and rain alert for Cork and Kerry tonight - but finer weather is on the way

File image of a woman with colourful umbrella in the rain in Cork City

A STATUS YELLOW alert for wind and rain has been issued in counties Cork and Kerry.

The alert will kick-in later this evening and remain in place overnight.

Met Éireann forecasts that very strong and gusty west to southwest winds and spells of heavy rain will bring the potential for falling branches, damage to temporary structures, localised flooding and difficult travelling conditions.

The alert will be in effect from 7pm this evening until 6am tomorrow morning.

There will be temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees today, and most of the country will see dry and clear spells overnight.

However, a blustery and wet start is forecast for tomorrow, with outbreaks of rain across the country.

It will become drier as the day progresses, with good spells of sunshine developing in maximum temperatures of 8 to 12 degrees.

On Wednesday, it will be a mostly cloudy and windy start to Wednesday in the south and west, with outbreaks of rain too, but it will be dry elsewhere.

A dry and sunny end to the working week is then forecast, with dry and bright weather on Thursday and a mostly dry and sunny day on Friday, though there is a chance of patchy rain at times in south Munster.

Met Éireann is also forecasting that there will be plenty of dry weather during the weekend, though there is a chance of rain in the south and southeast at times.