Batten down the hatches.

The weather alert for Wednesday has been upgraded from a Status Yellow to a Status Orange – Rain warning for Cork and Kerry.

Met Éireann issued an update today, warning us that we’re in for “spells of heavy and occasionally intense rain, combined with very strong and gusty winds.”

Potential impacts include difficult travel conditions, localised flooding and poor visibility.

The Status Orange alert will kick in at 9am on Wednesday and remain in place until 3pm.

Storm Agnes, the first storm of the season to be named by the UK Met Office, is due to make land fall over Ireland on Wednesday.

“This developing storm is currently out in the mid-Atlantic. Our latest analysis chart shows the weather system in its infant stage.” they explain.

“The infra-red satellite image from 12Z on Monday the 25th of September shows the large mass of cloud which will eventually develop into Storm Agnes.”

“Over the next few hours and days this developing area of low pressure will be taken up by the jet stream and undergo rapid deepening.”

“Storm Agnes is likely to make landfall late Wednesday morning and for now, a number of weather warnings have been issued in response. These warnings are likely to be updated as further modelling data becomes available.”