Brits are set to be battered by snow, strong winds and heavy rain in an Arctic blast which includes a rare ‘danger to life’ amber weather warning.
The UK had a very mild Christmas with temperatures rising into double figures along with plenty of fog and generally murky conditions but this is now changing. The high pressure system that has brought overcast conditions is moving away and is being replaced by a low which is moving in from the Atlantic.
Where this meets cold Arctic air moving southwards will see temperatures plummet. “A combination of heavy rain, strong winds and some snow all feature in the UK forecast for the New Year period,” states the Met Office. “A series of National Severe Weather Warnings – including an Amber Warning for rain in Scotland – are currently in place.”
12 beauty editor-approved and celebrity-loved pimple patches for clear skin in 2025
The weather warnings in place for today
(
Image:
Met Office)
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party and fireworks display have been cancelled due to the bad weather. Much of the UK is covered by at least one of the multiple Met Office weather warnings between today and Thursday.
Scotland is being hit first by “fairly persistent rain” and snow, with 50-70mm of rainfall expected widely and up to 100-140mm in places while other areas may have up to 20cm of snow, with a warning in place until midnight on New Year’s Eve, the forecaster said. An amber warning has been issued for parts of Scotland between midnight and 5pm on New Year’s Eve, indicating heavy rain is likely to cause flooding and travel disruption.
A yellow warning for “persistent snow” likely to cause road disruption in Orkney and Shetland is in place from 5am until midnight on Tuesday. Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said: “There will be pretty severe weather from that rain over the next 48 hours.”
Cordelia Menmuir, Scottish Environment Protection Agency duty flood manager, said: “Extremely high water levels are expected in Speyside, the Great Glen and Tayside, resulting in disruptions to transport and to communities. It is possible we could see similar levels to those experienced in early October 2023, when places like Aviemore and Perth were severely affected.”
A weather map for midnight on New Year’s Eve
(
Image:
WXCharts)
On New Year’s Eve, delays to all types of transport are “likely” as strong winds persist and may reach speeds of up to 70mph in England and Northern Ireland, the forecaster warned. An alert for wind is in place from 7am until 11pm on Tuesday and covers just north of York in England up to Glasgow and Edinburgh, while an alert covering much of Northern Ireland runs from 6am until 2pm.
Mr Claydon said the weather impacts will be varied across the UK, with “a wet and windy spell for many up into the new year”. He added: “There’s already some travel disruption in Scotland because of the high totals they’re seeing, more broadly there could be disruption from strong wind and, in particular, where the wind and rain overlap.”
It will get colder as the week progresses
(
Image:
PA)
The new year will be off to a turbulent start with separate weather warnings in place for wind and rain on January 1. Winds of up to 60mph are forecast across much of England and Wales all day on Wednesday, with gusts of 75mph likely around coastal areas and hills, according to the Met Office. The warning for wind is in place from 7am until midnight on Wednesday and the rain warning covers Wales and north-west England between 6pm on New Year’s Eve and 6pm on Wednesday, with 30-50mm of rain expected widely, while a few locations could see more than 100mm.
By Thursday, it is likely that the whole of the UK will experience a change to colder conditions, with this persisting into the weekend. Wintry showers are expected to affect the far north and east at times, but away from these, sunshine will be much more widespread than in recent days.
“Overnight temperatures will widely fall below freezing, perhaps reaching minus double digits in areas of Scotland already covered in snow,” states the Met Office for Thursday. “Snow and ice are likely to lead to some travel disruption and difficult driving conditions on New Year’s Day and overnight until 2 January in parts of northern Scotland, and a yellow warning has been issued.