New Year's Eve weather: Met Office amber warning as Brits to be battered by rain, wind and snow
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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.”.
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.”.
