Weather conditions could feel close to freezing as the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve
New Year’s Eve revellers have been urged to wrap up warm as conditions across many parts of the UK could feel close to freezing as the clock strikes midnight.
The weather is expected to remain unsettled with further strong winds and heavy rain throughout the last weekend of 2023.
A yellow weather warning for wind covering parts of Wales and the east of England has been issued and will come into force between 11am on Saturday and 3am on Sunday.
A spell of strong and gusty winds will move east across England and Wales, bringing some disruption to travel and services, the Met Office said.
A yellow weather warning for rain has been issued covering Wales between 10am and 6pm on Saturday, which may lead to flooding and transport disruption.
A yellow weather warning for rain will also come into effect at 4am on Saturday for Northern Ireland, due to be in force until 11am the same day.
The fresh warnings come on the heels of a gusty few days brought on by Storm Gerrit, which has left thousands of homes in the northern parts of the country without any electricity.
The Met Office said its Irish counterpart, Met Eireann, could name another storm – Storm Hank – as a “deep area of low pressure” pushes strong winds across the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.
Meteorologist Alex Burkill said Saturday is going to turn “wet and windy” across the UK with a band of “intense rain” pushing its way eastwards and north-eastwards to bring a risk of gales and possibly “severe gales” in exposed spots.
In a forecast video, Mr Burkill said northern areas as well as high ground areas in Scotland are likely to see “significant snow”, with possibly 10 to 20cm of snow building up on the highest grounds.
“There’s a potential for some snow accumulations, even as low as perhaps 100m up, we could see some slushy snow, so likely to see some travel disruption again, because of the wind, the rain and some snow like we’ve seen over some recent days,” he said.
Blustery and showery conditions are set to continue into Sunday, with the heaviest and most frequent rainfall across western parts of the UK.
Mr Burkill said: “As we look towards the end of the day on New Year’s Eve, and the blustery showery theme does continue, some of those showers should start to ease as we head towards midnight.“
New Year’s Day should turn drier for many, particularly across more central southern parts of England and across Scotland with the “central slice” of the UK most likely to have showery rain.“
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