Britain is in for a battering of snow, wind, ice and rain with the Met Office issuing a staggering six weather warnings for floods, travel chaos, potential power cuts and danger to life. Heavy rain and snow could cause disruption across a huge swathe of north, central and eastern Scotland on Wednesday (December 27), according to the forecaster.
At the time of writing, a second weather warning urges Britons to prepare for downpours across a region stretching from the Scottish borders down through the pennines, north west England on to Nottingham and across to Hull.
It warns of possible floods, road closures and includes a danger to life warning due to fast flowing or deep floodwaters.
Meanwhile, a third weather warning applies to Wales where there is a slight chance of power cuts, flood damage to buildings, road closures and a “small” risk of danger to life, according to the Met Office.
Heavy rain across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and parts of Wiltshire also risks flooding in some areas as well as disruption to road and rail routes.
Disruption is also “likely” with the risk of delays to road, rail and ferry crossings, bridge closures and large waves as strong winds batter the length of the south coast of England.
“Difficult” travel conditions are also likely in Scotland as Christmas Day snow turns to ice in some parts, with a Met Office warning of icy patches on untreated roads and the risk of slips and falls on Boxing Day.
Weather maps show gusts up to 60mph on Wednesday in parts of Scotland, western Wales and south west England. A map produced by WX Charts using Met Desk data shows up to 10cm of snow falling across northern Britain per hour at midday on December 27.
Temperatures on that day are chillier in the north, but milder in the south with up to 11C forecast in southern England, according to Netweather.
Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said rain will makes its way across the UK this evening (December 26).
He explained: “As we head into the evening time on Boxing Day, we’ll see the cloud and the rain slowly spill its way north-eastwards.
“Some heavy rain developing, particularly across Wales into parts of Northern Ireland, and later on, northern England.”
Mr Dewhurst said the rain could turn into snow, with the wind and rain warnings in place in parts of southern and northern England, Wales, and southern Scotland heading into Wednesday morning.
He said: “Bumping into some cold air it could give some temporary snow across the far north of the Pennines into southern parts of Scotland.”
“The winds picking up too towards the end of the night, we could see gusts of 50-60mph.
“So rainfall and wind warnings to take us into Wednesday morning.”
The yellow rain warning in place across northern England runs from 3am until 6pm on Wednesday.
Rain and snow warnings covering much of Scotland will last from 6am to midnight.
Wales’s rain warning is between midnight and 6pm while the warning for the south-west and coastal parts of southern England apply from midnight until 3pm.
Temperatures across Scotland dipped below freezing overnight, to around -3C, with icy stretches forming as some wintry showers fed in from the north.
Elsewhere, temperatures generally stayed above freezing, but they were lower than they have been of late with some parts seeing single figures, according to the Met Office.
Today:
Most areas enjoying a fine day with some decent amounts of sunshine. Wintry showers continue to affect the far north of Scotland and these will ease. Wind and rain arriving across the southwest later. Temperatures near average.
Tonight:
A clear start to the night across the north and east. Turning windy with cloud and outbreaks of rain spreading to all but northern Scotland by dawn.
Wednesday:
Further outbreaks of rain spreading northwards, the rain falling as snow above 200 meters across Scotland. Clearer conditions with showers arriving from the south later. Windy, with coastal gales.
Outlook for Thursday to Saturday:
Brighter and showery on Thursday and Friday, though windy, especially in the south. Further hill snow in north. Similar on Saturday, perhaps turning a little drier for a time.
