New Year’s Eve looks set to be a washout with a new weather warning for rain issued across Greater Manchester. Forecasters expect heavy rain to batter the region on Tuesday (December 31).
The Met Office has issued a new weather warning for heavy rain, coming into force at 6pm on New Year’s Eve and lasting for 24 hours. The warning covers all of Greater Manchester and Cheshire, plus much of Lancashire, Merseyside, the Pennines and Peak District, Staffordshire and most inland areas of Wales.
Residents are being advised to be prepared for possible flooding, plus disruption to roads, travel services and power. The Met Office says: “Heavy rain is likely to lead to disruption across Wales and north-west England, with a chance that some locations may experience flooding.”
It adds: “Beginning on Tuesday (New Year’s Eve), persistent and at times heavy rainfall is expected as a band of rain becomes slow-moving across the region, accompanied by strong winds. There remains a bit of uncertainty around how this evolves on Wednesday morning, which will impact final rainfall totals, but rain is expected to clear to the southeast through Wednesday afternoon.
“Thirty to 50 mm is expected fairly widely, with 60-80 mm across west-facing hills. There is a chance a few locations could see in excess of 100 mm during the event, with north Wales the most likely region to see these larger totals.”
The warning issued for Greater Manchester and beyond
(Image: Met Office)
It comes as a weather warning for snow in the area on New Year’s Day, which was issued yesterday, has now been lifted. A separate warning for strong winds from 7am to 11.59pm on New Year’s Day now covers an area further south, away from Greater Manchester and the North West.
The changes made by the Met Office this morning mean there are now seven yellow weather warnings in force across the country this week instead of nine. Meanwhile, a more severe amber warning for rain has been issued for an area of northern Scotland including Inverness and Fort William.
The full list of current Met Office warnings
- Amber warning for rain in part of northern Scotland from 12am to 5pm on Tuesday
- Yellow warning for rain and snow in northern and central Scotland from 12am on Monday to 11.59pm on Tuesday
- Yellow warning for strong winds in the northern Pennines from 11am to 6pm on Monday
- Yellow warning for snow in the north-east Scottish Isles from 5am to 11.59pm on Tuesday
- Yellow warning for strong winds in Northern Ireland from 6am to 2pm on Tuesday
- Yellow warning for wind in Cumbria, the North East and southern Scotland from 7am to 11pm on Tuesday
- Yellow warning for heavy rain in most of the North West, north Midlands and much of Wales from 6pm on Tuesday to 6pm on Wednesday
- Yellow warning for strong winds in South and West Wales, southern England and parts of the Midlands from 7am to 11.59pm on Wednesday