Storm Arwen could bring snow to hills and mountains in the north of the country today, Met Éireann has warned.

Yellow wind warnings are in place across the North this morning, with warnings due to come into force for Donegal, Sligo and Mayo at 3pm this afternoon.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Met Éireann forecaster Joanna Donnelly said winds will gust up to 110kph across northern areas this afternoon.

“Strong winds,” she said. “There are strong winds now and they will get stronger throughout the day.

“Now it was the British Met Office that named it Storm Arwen, they are experiencing storm force winds there along the east of Scotland and northern England.

“But here in Ireland, we are expecting the strongest winds across the north of the country. So, we have a warning out for Sligo, Mayo and Donegal for today and part of Saturday too. We will get storm-force winds at times on the Irish Sea as well.”

The yellow warning for Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry came into force at 9am this morning and is due to remain in place until midnight.

The warnings Donegal, Mayo and Sligo come into force at 3pm today and are due to run until early tomorrow morning.

“We are looking at North winds gusting up to 110kph,” said Ms Donnelly. “They could get stronger than that over the Inishowen peninsula right at the top of the country.

“We have got some showers coming through too – the showers are heavy, blustery showers with the risk of some of those falling as sleet and snow, mostly over the hills and mountains in the north of the country.”

Met Éireann said north-facing coasts could also face ‘significantly higher gusts at times’ through the night.

The forecaster is warning of the “possibility of wave and spray overtopping along north facing coasts” at high tide tonight.