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The New Year is being celebrated across the world – including in London, where the fireworks went ahead despite bad weather forcing the cancellations of events across the UK.
But Britain is now waking up to four weather warnings for New Year’s Day, which will see much of the UK battered by strong winds, rain and in some areas, snow.
An amber weather warning has been put in place across parts of North-West England until 9am on New Year’s Day, with warnings of “danger to life” flooding.
A yellow warning for rain covers a larger area, including Wales, until 11am, alongside a yellow wind warning in Wales and the southern half of England with “strong winds” expected until 3pm.
Much of northern Scotland also faces a snow and ice warning until 9am on Thursday, with “rain turning to snow” likely to “lead to some travel disruption”.
There are 178 flood warnings in place across the UK, including 137 in England, 28 in Scotland and 13 in Wales, according to the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Natural Resources Wales.
Despite many cancelled celebrations due to heavy rain and strong winds last night, London’s fireworks display dazzled as thousands flocked to Big Ben despite the bitter weather.
Transpennine Express issues ‘do not travel’ alert
Alex Croft1 January 2025 11:28
Delays and diversions hit hundreds of New Year travellers
Airline passengers making long-haul journeys to and from London Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic and British Airways face delays, two of them triggered by diversions.
Virgin Atlantic flight VS8 from Los Angeles to London Heathrow took off as expected shortly before 4pm California time on New Year’s Eve. But while flying over northern Missouri, the Airbus A350 diverted due to a medical emergency on board. It landed 75 minutes later at Chicago O’Hare.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “Flight VS8 from Los Angeles to London Heathrow requested a priority diversion into Chicago O’Hare Airport on Tuesday 31 December (local) due to a passenger becoming unwell onboard.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is always our number one priority and we’re sorry for the inconvenience caused to customers onboard. The aircraft has continued to London and is due to arrive this afternoon.”
The flight departed from Chicago a few minutes after midnight, local time, and is expected to arrive at Heathrow about four hours late at 1.30pm.
Passengers on a BA flight from Chicago to Heathrow also unexpectedly saw in the New Year at O’Hare airport. Flight BA296 was already late after a diversion to Iceland on the outbound flight. The aircraft left the stand at Chicago at 1am local time, but returned to the terminal before take-off. The Boeing 787 eventually left at 2.25am local time, and is expected to arrive at 3.30pm – four hours late.
British Airways passengers due to fly to Johannesburg at 9.15pm on New Year’s Eve are still at Heathrow after a technical issue grounded their plane. It is now likely to fly out at 12 noon, around 15 hours late.
The corresponding inbound flight from South Africa’s largest city to London is expected to operate about eight hours late on Thursday.
Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent1 January 2025 11:05
Where snow could hit UK on New Year’s Day as temperatures drop to -1C
Britons are bracing for snowfall and a sharp drop in temperatures which will hit below freezing in some areas on New Year’s Day.
Conditions aren’t set to improve at the start of the new year, with rain, wind and snow warnings covering much of Wales, the southern half of England and northern Scotland.
A snow and ice could cause “travel disruption and difficult driving conditions” across northern Scotland, with a yellow warning in place until 9am on Thursday as temperatures reach sub-zero on Wednesday evening.
Read the full report:
Alex Croft1 January 2025 10:47
‘Uncertain’ weather for New Year’s Day
The UK will experience an uncertain start to the year in weather terms, with a wet and windy start across much of England and Wales and chilly conditions with some occasional sunshine in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Rebekah Hicks said: “A band of persistent and at times heavy rain will linger across Wales and northwest England through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, before clearing southeast during Wednesday afternoon. This rain will be accompanied by strong and gusty winds.”
On Thursday, the forecaster says it is “likely that the whole of the UK will experience a change to colder conditions, with this persisting into the weekend”.
Alex Croft1 January 2025 10:22
Rail passengers in northern England told: ‘You cannot travel’
TransPennine Express, which runs intercity trains in northern England and southern Scotland is urging customers not to travel on New Year’s Day morning “as persistent heavy rain has caused flooding on several routes – primarily in the north west”.
The company says: “The flooding is causing significant issues in Greater Manchester and Cheshire and is impacting many service across the major trans-Pennine routes. “With the heavy rain set to continue for several hours, further flooding is likely and rail travellers have been advised to delay journeys, at least until the afternoon.”
Passengers are urged “to defer their travel or claim a refund”.
Northern warns: “Flooding between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly means that all lines are disrupted. Trains running between these stations will be cancelled or revised. Disruption is expected until 12 noon.”
Lines between Liverpool and Manchester are also blocked.
Alex Croft1 January 2025 10:02
2025 begins with dozens of flight cancellations at Heathrow
Thousands of airline passengers face disruption on New Year’s Day after 36 flights to and from London Heathrow were cancelled.
They have been grounded in response to a reduction in the “flow rate” of arrivals at the UK’s busiest airport.
British Airways cancelled 28 European flights linking Heathrow with destinations such as Barcelona, Copenhagen and Nice. Two round-trips to Milan have been grounded.
A spokesperson for BA said: “We operate hundreds of flights every day without disruption, successfully getting tens of thousands of our customers to where they need to be.
“Like other airlines, we’ve had to make some small adjustments to our schedule today because of air traffic control restrictions across London airports due to adverse weather conditions.
“While the vast majority of our customers will be unaffected, we apologise for the inconvenience caused and our teams are working hard to help get their journeys back on track.”
Other cancellations have been made by Swiss from Geneva and Zurich, Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Air France from Paris CDG.
Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent1 January 2025 09:44
More than 170 flood warnings issued across UK
Weather authorities have issued 178 flood warnings across England, Scotland and Wales as the UK is set to be lashed with rain as it enters the New Year.
A flood warning is the second most severe of the three-tier warning system shared between the three agencies. It means flooding is expected in the area and advises residents to “act now”.
There are also 160 flood alerts – the least severe warning level – in place. This includes 112 in England, 39 in Wales and 9 in Scotland.
Alex Croft1 January 2025 09:26
Mapped: Wednesday’s weather warnings
Four weather warnings are in force for Wednesday.
They include two rain warnings which will be wrapped up by 11am, a wind warning which will end at 3pm, and a snow and ice warning which lasts until 9am on Thursday.
Here they are, mapped:
Alex Croft1 January 2025 09:01
Epic fireworks display in Mexico to welcome 2025
Alex Croft1 January 2025 08:41
Met Office displays New Year’s forecast in graphics
Alex Croft1 January 2025 08:21
