Yellow weather warnings for cold and wind will come into force on Christmas Day across parts of the UK. The UK Health Security Agency and Met Office issued the alerts as forecasters predict strong easterly winds and dropping temperatures – but rule out hopes for a white Christmas.
The Met Office activated a yellow wind warning for South West England and much of Wales, effective from 4am to 11:59pm on Christmas Day. Wind gusts could reach 45-55mph fairly widely, with exposed coasts and areas west of prominent hills potentially seeing gusts of 55-65mph. The Met Office warned that «given the more unusual wind direction, this may lead to some disruption to transport and power supplies». «Large waves will be an additional hazard on some coasts», the agency added.
The UKHSA issued a separate yellow cold health alert for South West England, running from 6pm on Thursday until noon on December 27. The agency cautioned that low temperatures are likely to cause «increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people» and pose a «greater risk to life of vulnerable people».
High pressure now controls the UK's weather, bringing a more settled but cooler spell. Christmas Day temperatures are forecast to reach around 7C in North East England and 6C in the South or South East. Overnight from Christmas Day into Boxing Day, rural parts of Scotland could see temperatures drop to minus 6C, with rural Wales potentially reaching minus 4C.
White Christmas ruled out
A white Christmas is «highly unlikely», according to Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon, who told the Press Association that the UK faces a «very dry picture» over the coming days.
Claydon said Thursday's conditions would be «pretty decent» with mainly dry weather. He described Christmas Day prospects: «On Christmas Day there will be a bright start in the south of England and then into Wales as well as the cloud clears. It will be cloudier further north, but there will be some cloud breaks starting to break through by lunchtime, and some good sunny spells establishing further north as well. The other notable factor will be the wind, so with the positioning of the high pressure there is a quite strong easterly wind, particularly across the south coast of England, so it could be quite gusty there. High pressure is now firmly in control of the weather across the UK, bringing a much more settled spell, and also cooler temperatures than we've had of late.»
On snow chances, he explained: «We've got a very dry picture across the UK over the next few days. The only vague possibility is there's a little band of rain that's skirting westwards across the Channel through tomorrow and there's an outside chance it could clip the South West of England. The chances of any snow falling out of that are very low.»
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
