UK weather live: Edinburgh’s Hogmanay cancelled as wind threatens London fireworks

London City Hall is monitoring the weather forecast ahead of Tuesday’s sold-out New Year’s Eve fireworks display.

Wind speeds are expected to reach up to 41mph in the hours leading up to midnight, before a yellow weather warning for wind is introduced for the capital at 7am on Wednesday morning.

London lawmakers will continue monitoring the weather to ensure it is safe to go ahead, the BBC reported. It comes after New Year’s festivities in Edinburgh and Blackpool were both cancelled.

Mayor Sadiq Khan also issued a warning to Londoners about the risk of scammers selling fake tickets to the fireworks.

He said on X: “Ticketmaster is the official event partner and the only place to buy resale tickets – beware of ticket scams. If you have tickets for the night, remember to bring ID.”

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

A statement issued by organisers said that “high winds and inclement weather” has forced the city to cancel the event for the sake of “public safety”.

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

Organisers were “unable to continue with preparations and necessary set-up” for the celebrations, and therefore took the “difficult decision to cancel all outdoor events”.

All indoor events have not been cancelled.

After a weekend in which an estimated 350 flights were cancelled at key London airports, more departures are being grounded ahead of New Year’s Eve because of three days of fog in southeast England.

At London Gatwick, short-notice cancellations continued long into Sunday night, with easyJet in particular grounding dozens of flights as passengers waited in the terminals.

British Airways, Vueling and Wizz Air also left thousands of people stranded on Sunday.

Many of the passengers who made it back to Gatwick were severely delayed, with some easyJet, BA and Tui flights arriving four hours or more behind schedule.

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

But Stansted and Luton, both busy single-runway airports, report no cancellations due to fog at in their areas.

Stansted On Saturday, a total of 12 flights were cancelled to and from the Essex airport. Two were due to a crew hours issue. Two happened because of bad weather in Chambery in the French Alps. Three were made in order not to infringe the curfew at Amsterdam airport. One cancellation was triggered by an earlier divert.

The highest number, four, was due to Krakow airport being effectively closed for the whole weekend because of thick fog.

Luton Of four weekend cancellations at the Bedfordshire airport, two were caused by bad weather at Krakow. Another was grounded due to the airport curfew at Lyon, and a Belfast flight was cancelled due to the crew going out of hours.

After three days of fog led to the cancellation of around 200 flights to and from London Gatwick, more departures and arrivals have been grounded at the Sussex airport.

Planes and pilots are out of position, with flight time limitations also coming into play.

So far 27 more flights have been grounded at Gatwick, affecting up to 5,000 passengers. The biggest airline at the Sussex airport, easyJet, has grounded 17 flights. Inbound services from Aberdeen, Inverness and Belfast City were axed.

Departures on easyJet to Nice, Venice, Murcia, Milan, Naples, Innsbruck and Rennes have also been cancelled.

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

“This has meant that air traffic control has had to limit the number of aircraft that can arrive and depart, which has sadly 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, a chief forecaster with the Met Office, says the forecast for the UK in the coming days is “very complicated”.

“There is a very complicated weather forecast for the UK with snow, strong winds and heavy rain all feature for parts of the UK. Almost the entire UK is covered by at least one weather warning during the coming week,” he said.

“With such a varied and complex weather situation there is potential for the pattern of warnings to shift and possibly escalate in some areas. With lots of celebrations and people on the move over the coming days, we are urging everyone to keep checking the forecast so they can update their plans.”

The cancellation of Blackpool’s fireworks display to celebrate New Years Eve is the second time since 2021 the festivites have been called off.

Three years ago, the fireworks were cancelled due to the risks of blustery winds.

A spokesperson for VisitBlackpool told the BBC:

“Unfortunately, as the fireworks were being fired from the beach, it isn’t possible to move the time of the display to later this evening because of tidal conditions.

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

Blackpool’s New Years Eve fireworks celebrations have been cancelled due to high winds.

The city lies just outside the Met Office’s yellow weather warning for wind on Tuesday evening.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Due to the forecast of high winds tomorrow evening we have had to make the tough decision to cancel the fireworks display this year.

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

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

Until 23:59 on Tuesday, a yellow rain and snow warning will cover the majority of Scotland, barring southern parts. At 5am on Tuesday morning, a yellow warning for snow will cover the Orkney islands.

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

North and east of Perthshire will likely see snow, with 10-20cm in areas above 150 metres, according to the forecaster. The Met Office says: “As milder air pushes in, snow will turn back to rain, and any rapid snow melt will contribute to flooding in places.

“Strong winds may exacerbate impacts, particularly across the areas of Scotland affected by snow. Blizzard conditions are possible, especially over high ground and across much of Sutherland and Caithness. Powerline icing is possible where blizzard conditions occur.”

At 12am on Wednesday 1 January, it will be replaced by a yellow snow and ice warning covering the Highlands and northern areas of Scotland. “Rain turning to snow is likely to lead to some travel disruption and difficult driving conditions on New Years Day,” the Met Office says.

The snow and ice warning will remain in place until 9am on Thursday.