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Anyone making New Year's Eve plans that involve any real element of travel should beware, because a ‘multi-hazard’ weather event is set to hit the British isles.
The turn into 2025 is already off to a bad start after it was confirmed that a storm was set to hit the UK, leading to several events already being cancelled.
The most high profile of these is Edinburgh’s ‘Hogmanay’ celebrations, the Scottish tradition of saluting the last day of the year and celebrating a new one.
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Between tonight and Thursday, the Met Office has issued several weather warnings, with most of the UK being covered by at least one at some point this week.
Tonight, (30 December), sees a rain and snow warning in Scotland, along with a wind warning through the middle portion of the north of England.
Tomorrow, New Year’s Eve, is the worst this week for weather warnings, with five across the entire UK spanning Scotland (including the Orkneys), much of the north of England, the north-west, and Northern Ireland.
While four are yellow warnings, the most severe is in Scotland where an amber rain warning is in place, covering Inverness and Fort William.
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This amber rain warning means there is expected to be property flooding and disruption to travel, as is also the case for much of the yellow weather warnings across the country.
Add to these three separate weather warnings on the first day of 2025 and one for snow and ice in the north of Scotland on the second, and the new year looks set to be rung in with rain, wind and snow. Great.
The warnings on New Year's Eve in part stem from gusts of 70mph set to hit England and Northen Ireland, in addition to an estimated 140 mm of rainfall across Scotland.
Regarding the cancelled Hogmanay celebrations, ‘Unique Assembly’ which runs the festivities for Edinburgh council released a statement saying: “We have unfortunately been unable to continue with preparations and necessary set-up for Edinburgh's Hogmanay outdoor events due to extreme weather and forecast conditions.
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"Therefore, for safety reasons we, along with our event partners, have taken the difficult decision to cancel all outdoor events.
"We know that this will be hugely disappointing to all hoping to celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh and that people travel from around the world to be here at the home of Hogmanay."
Texas, a band who were set to play at the event, posted on social media saying they 'hope everyone stays safe and has a great New Year when it comes.'
All in all, plan to ring in the new year somewhere dry or you may find yourself singing Auld Lang Syne in 70mph winds.
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A full list of weather warnings and affected areas can be found here.
Michael Slavin