UK weather live: Edinburgh’s Hogmanay cancelled as London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks threatened by 40mph winds

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations have been canceled due to “extreme weather”.

A statement released by organizers said “high winds and inclement weather” forced the city to cancel the event due to “public safety”.

The Night Afore Disco Party in West Princes Street Gardens, the Hogmanay Street Party, the Concert in the Gardens and the Midnight Fireworks from Edinburgh Castle have been cancelled.

The organizers “were not able to continue with the preparations and the necessary setup” for the celebration, so they made the “difficult decision to cancel all outdoor events.”

All indoor events have not been cancelled.

After a weekend in which around 350 flights were canceled at key London airports, more departures were banned ahead of New Year’s Eve due to three days of fog in the south east of England.

At London Gatwickshort notice cancellations continued long into Sunday night, with easyJet especially the grounding of dozens of flights while passengers were waiting at the terminals.

British AirwaysVueling and Wizz Air also stranded thousands of people on Sunday.

Many passengers returning to Gatwick were severely delayed, with some EasyJet, BA and Tuia flights arriving four hours or more behind schedule.

Two of London’s busiest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, experienced hundreds of flight cancellations between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 December due to fog. London City was also hit hard, with proportionately more cancellations and diversions than any other airport.

But Stansted and Luton, both busy single-runway airports, are reporting no fog cancellations in their areas.

Stansted A total of 12 flights to and from Essex Airport were canceled on Saturday. Two were due to issues with crew hours. Two occurred due to bad weather in Chambéry in the French Alps. Three were made in order not to break the curfew at Amsterdam Airport. One cancellation was caused by an earlier redirect.

The highest number, four, was due to Krakow’s airport being virtually closed for the entire weekend due to dense fog.

Luton Of the four cancellations over the weekend at Bedfordshire Airport, two were due to bad weather in Krakow. Another was grounded due to a curfew at Lyon airport, and a flight to Belfast was canceled due to insufficient crew hours.

After three days of fog caused around 200 flights to and from London Gatwick to be cancelled, more departures and arrivals were grounded at the Sussex airport.

Airplanes and pilots are out of position, and flight time limitations also come into play.

So far a further 27 flights have been grounded at Gatwick, affecting up to 5,000 passengers. Sussex Airport’s biggest airline, easyJet, grounded 17 flights. Inbound services from Aberdeen, Inverness and Belfast City have been suspended.

EasyJet departures to Nice, Venice, Murcia, Milan, Naples, Innsbruck and Rennes have also been cancelled.

Passengers were told: “We have been affected by a three-day disruption caused by low visibility weather conditions at London Gatwick.

“This meant that air traffic control had to limit the number of aircraft that could arrive and take off, which unfortunately led to delays and cancellations today. The safety of you and our crew is our highest priority and we thank you for your understanding.”

British Airways has grounded flights from Gatwick to Algiers, Jersey (two services), Seville and Verona.

Andy Page, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said the forecast for the UK over the coming days was “very complicated”.

“There is a very complicated weather forecast for the UK with snow, strong winds and heavy rain, all for parts of the UK. “Almost the whole of Great Britain is covered by at least one weather warning over the next week,” he said.

“With such a diverse and complex weather situation, there is the potential for the warning pattern to change and possibly escalate in some areas. With many celebrations and people on the move in the coming days, we urge everyone to keep checking the forecast to update their plans.”

The cancellation of Blackpool’s New Year’s Eve fireworks is the second time since 2021 that celebrations have been cancelled.

Three years ago, the fireworks display was canceled due to the threat of strong winds.

A spokesman for VisitBlackpool told the BBC:

“Unfortunately, as the fireworks are being launched from the beach, it is not possible to move the show time to later this evening due to tidal conditions.

“We have therefore made the decision to cancel now to give people the earliest opportunity to plan their day.”

New Year’s Eve fireworks in Blackpool have been canceled due to high winds.

The city is just ahead of a yellow weather warning for wind on Tuesday night.

A council spokesman said: “Due to strong winds forecast tomorrow night we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel the fireworks display this year.

“The rest of the New Year’s Eve family fun will continue as planned.”

Snow has been forecast for areas of northern Scotland – but what exactly can residents expect?

Until 11.59pm on Tuesday, a yellow warning for rain and snow will cover most of Scotland, except southern parts. At 5am on Tuesday morning, a yellow snow warning will apply to the Orkney Islands.

The Met says the heavy rain will be “persistent and widespread” with totals of 50mm to 70mm possible over two days. Some areas in western Scotland could see 100 to 140mm of rain.

North and east of Perthshire snow is likely, with 10-20cm in areas above 150m, according to the forecaster. The Met Office said: “As milder air moves in, the snow will revert to rain and any rapid melting of the snow will contribute to flooding in places.

“Strong winds can make impacts worse, especially in snow-affected areas of Scotland. Blizzards are possible, especially over high ground and across much of Sutherland and Caithness. Power line icing is possible where blizzards occur.”

It will be replaced by a yellow warning for snow and ice covering the highlands and northern areas of Scotland at 12pm on Wednesday 1 January. “Rain turning to snow is likely to lead to some travel disruption and difficult driving conditions on New Year’s Day,” the Met Office said.

A snow and ice warning remains in effect until Thursday at 9 a.m.

As Auld Lang Syne rings out across the UK at the turn of the year, let’s take a look at where the weather might be suitable for festive fireworks.

The first graph shows the type and amount of rain and snow. The gray areas to the north are where snow is expected – the darker the gray, the more snow is forecast.

The second chart shows expected temperatures, with relatively mild predictions for much of the south and cooler temperatures in the north.