New Year’s Day: Wind, rain and flood warnings across much of UK

More than 150 flood warnings have been issued across the UK as parts of the country are set to be battered by wind and rain on the first day of 2025.

Yellow warnings issued by the Met Office for wind and rain are in place for much of Wales, north west England, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and southern England.

A warning for snow and ice has also been issued for northern Scotland.

It comes after New Year’s Eve events across the country were cancelled due to bad weather – although celebrations in Manchester and London went ahead.

The Met Office said there was a “slight chance” of damage to buildings and power cuts, with gusts of up to 75mph possible.

The weather warnings in place across the UK include:

• A yellow warning for snow and ice in the north of mainland Scotland is in force from 04:00 on Wednesday until 09:00 on Thursday
• A yellow warning of wind is in place for Wales and large parts of England is in place from 00:15 until 15:00 on Wednesday

An amber rain warning covering parts of North West England was in place until 09:00 on Wednesday as was a yellow warning for rain for much of Wales and north-west England until 11:00.

A yellow warning for snow and rain covering the Highlands and Moray was active until 04:00.

In the Highlands, forecasters warned “blizzard conditions are possible”, especially in the far northern regions of Sutherland and Caithness.

The Environment Agency (EA) has issued 126 flood warnings in England, mostly concentrated in the North West.

There are also 11 flood warnings in place for north Wales and 23 warnings in place for Scotland.

London’s New Year’s Day parade suffered a short delay due to the high winds in the capital.

The parade was delayed by 30 minutes to avoid coinciding with a squall line, or narrow band of extremely high wind, that was expected in London around midday.

Organisers said inflatable cartoon characters due to feature in the parade would not be inflated after advice from the Met Office.

Between 60 and 90mm of rain has fallen widely across north west England over the last 24 hours with over 100mm recorded over some of the hills of north Wales and Cumbria. The impact of the now-expired amber rain warning in the England’s northwest will continue to be felt for much of the day.

There are lane closures on many of the motorways and roads of northwest England. Anyone heading out on a journey should check conditions before setting out.

Rain and strong winds will continue to affect parts of southern England and East Anglia, but the weather will become drier and brighter across Wales, the Midlands and north England with the strong winds easing.

A weather front over Scotland is bringing rain with some sleet and snow over hills. As it continues to move southwards, much colder arctic air will follow, with sunny spells and snow showers following.

A few centimetres of snow is expected at low elevations overnight, but the hills of north Scotland are likely to see 5-10cm of snow in places bringing some local disruption.

It will feel increasingly bitter as arctic air reaches all areas by Thursday.

An area of low pressure will move into this cold air on Sunday bringing rain and some disruptive snow on its northern edge.

The poor weather conditions are causing rail disruptions in parts of the country.

Heavy flooding has led to widespread cancellations across Northern Rail services on Wednesday, including to and from Manchester airport.

The TransPennine Express service urged customers not to travel at all on Wednesday due to heavy flooding on several routes.

Transport for Wales said the weather had caused a number of its lines to be blocked and advised passengers to check online before travelling.

Northern Ireland’s Translink similarly advised travellers to check routes before travelling.

There are no Scot Rail trains running on New Year’s Day, with services due to resume on Thursday.

On New Year’s Eve, flooding along Scot Rail’s far north tracks led to cancellations along the line, with no buses able to serve as rail replacements due to the hazardous weather.

Despite the poor weather, thousands of people gathered along Embankment in the capital to see in the New Year with a fireworks display over the Thames at midnight on Wednesday.

Celebrations in Manchester also went ahead as planned, after its fireworks display was moved to the top of the city’s central library.

Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh were cancelled over public safety concerns, as were fireworks displays in Blackpool, Newcastle, the Isle of Wight and Ripon in North Yorkshire.

Hogmanay organisers, Unique Assembly, had previously apologised to international tourists who travelled to Edinburgh for the street party and midnight fireworks display.

Scotland’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said cancelling the festival was “undoubtedly” the correct decision.

The fireworks display in Blackpool was cancelled because of the expected high winds. The town’s other events, including a projection show to mark the start of 2025, went ahead.