Some fireworks displays planned for this weekend have been cancelled after a weather warning for strong winds was issued for parts of Northern Ireland ahead of Storm Boelo’s arrival.
The amber alert comes from the Met Office, which has warned that 80mph gusts could hit some places.
It applies to counties Antrim and Londonderry.
The weather alert is in force from 9pm on Saturday to 9pm on Sunday.
A series of events planned for this weekend have been affected, Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council cancelled its fireworks display at Ballymoney.
In statement, the council said: “We understand how disappointing this will be, but the decision has been taken with the safety of visitors, staff and event personnel as the priority.”
Mid Ulster District Council also scrapped its firework event at the Mid Ulster Sports Arena in Cookstown.
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has postponed their spooked-out event at V36 until Sunday November 1.
The Irish FA Women’s Challenge Cup final between Glentoran and Cliftonville has been postponed until Tuesday night, October 27.
The Antrim Senior Hurling Championship final, scheduled for Sunday, has also been postponed until November 1.
And the the Sunflower Trophy motorcycle race meeting at Bishopscourt today has also been cancelled.
The storm has also led to the closure of one of Northern Ireland’s popular beauty spots, with the Silent Valley Mountain Park in Co Down to close this weekend.
NI Water said the decision was taken “in the interest of public safety due to the risk of high winds damaging trees at the site.”
A number of StenaLine ferry sailings between Belfast and Cairnryan, and Dublin and Holyhead have also been cancelled on Saturday.
The UK is braced for “damaging” winds and heavy downpours with two named storms expected to wreak disruption over the weekend.
Storm Austen, the first named storm of the season, could bring gusts of up to 80mph to parts of south-west England, with 60-70mph winds expected widely in the region.
Over the weekend, Storm Boelo will affect Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of northern England with what the forecaster described as “impactful winds”.
The Met Office said: “Very strong westerly winds associated with Storm Boelo are expected with fairly widespread gusts of 60 to 70mph and gusts to 80mph in exposed coastal areas. The strongest winds will initially affect western Scotland and far north of Northern Ireland on Saturday evening and then spread eastwards overnight and through Sunday.
“High winds will be accompanied by periods of heavy rain and frequent showers.
“Whilst high winds are expected across a wider area with a yellow warning in force, there is a higher confidence in impacts and disruption taking place within this amber warning area.
“The winds will gradually ease from the west through Sunday.”
Earlier, the Met Office issued a yellow wind warning for Northern Ireland from 10am on Saturday to noon on Sunday.
The yellow alert applies to all six of Northern Ireland’s counties.
The Met Office said: “Strong winds will spread across Northern Ireland during Saturday. Initially strong southerly winds will develop on Saturday morning, before stronger westerly winds follow later in the day.
“Very windy conditions will persist overnight and into Sunday before gradually easing from the southwest during Sunday morning.
“Gusts of 50-60 mph are likely widely with some coastal and exposed areas potentially seeing gusts of 65-75 mph. Strong winds will be combined with blustery heavy showers.”
It comes as new weather warnings for Storm Boelo have been announced for parts of the Irish Republic.
The Irish weather agency Met Éireann issued five warnings of varying severity affecting 10 counties along the west coast.
Boelo has sparked an orange-level wind warning for Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo between 2pm on Saturday and 9am on Sunday.
A second orange-level warning for rain applies to Kerry between 7am and 2pm on Saturday.
A yellow-level warning for all of those counties, as well as Clare, Cork, Galway, Leitrim, and Limerick, will apply between 4am on 3pm on Saturday.
All five counties in Connacht, as well as Clare, Kerry and Limerick, will also be under a yellow warning for wind between 1pm on Saturday and midday on Sunday.
A separate yellow wind warning will apply to Donegal between 1pm on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday.