Batten down the hatches folks, we're in for quite the 24 hours of bad weather it seems as Ireland's first winter storm of the year takes hold today.
Forecasters have warned that 'Storm Abigail' as she's called, will see strong winds and wintry showers batter down the country with the mild temperatures enjoyed in recent days coming to an abrupt end. It has been exceptionally mild recently...
It will be the north and north-west part of the country that will be the worst hit however, with gusts of up to 120kmh in coastal counties.
We have also been warned to not be fooled by the relatively calm weather this morning - as it literally is the calm before the storm.
Met Eireann have issued a statues orange warning, which forecaster Gerry Murphy told RTE Radio One this morning means 'be prepared'.
"We have issued an orange warning. The yellow means 'be aware', the orange means 'be prepared' and the red is 'take action'.
"Make sure anything you're doing today, be prepared. Especially those who live on the coast, they will have high winds.
"Make sure your actions are safe and make sure your children and your elderly neighbours are kept safe.
"It's a question of pure common sense."
The storm is set to take hold over the next 24 hours while tomorrow is also set to be very blustery with temperatures between 6C and 10C.
'Abigail' (or Abi G, if you will) is the first named storm of a new initiative between the Met office in the UK and Ireland where people voted for what names they would choose to call storms that hit the country.
In case you are curious, here's the list in the order they will go...
Abigail
Barney
Clodagh
Desmond
Eva
Frank
Gertrude
Henry
Imogen
Jake
Katie
Lawrence
Mary
Nigel
Orla
Phil
Rhonda
Steve
Tegan
Vernon
Wendy
Definitely don't want to be around when that Storm Gertrude takes hold, she sounds like a right so and so.
