Weather for new year’s eve celebrations

As the clock strikes midnight later, hundreds of thousands will be taking to the streets to celebrate the beginning of a new year.

The festive period has seen temperatures dip below normal across much of the country, delivering the coldest nights of 2014 for Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales.

Even though overnight temperatures have fallen to as low as -9C in Scotland, this is actually some distance off the -10C to -15C we’d expect to see in a typical winter season.

In addition to the cold, there was also the snow that fell across north Wales, the Midlands and northern parts of England on Boxing Day.

As much as 10cm of snow fell in places, causing some disruption on the roads and delays or cancellations to flights from regional airports.

New weather for New Year

The cold spell of weather that we’ve had over the past week is about to come to an end, as the jet stream powers up over the Atlantic Ocean.

This will usher in a change to much more unsettled weather for the start of 2015 – a trend that is likely to continue for the first half of the month.

Areas of low pressure, some of them quite active, will bring mild, wet and windy weather, interspersed with brighter, showery colder interludes.

Although any significant cold snaps with widespread snow seem unlikely, with the wind often coming from the relatively warm Atlantic, rather than the cold Arctic or nearby continent.

Weather at the stroke of midnight

One common theme across the UK this evening will be that it’s not going to be anywhere near as cold as the past few nights.

As the clock strikes midnight, temperatures are likely to be above freezing for all areas – generally 6 to 11C. One exception will be East Anglia, where temperature could locally linger around a chilly 3C.

Whilst much of England and Wales will be cloudy and breezy at midnight, aside from a little light rain or drizzle over Wales, south west and north west England, most places will be dry.

Scotland and Northern Ireland will see a window of drier weather at midnight, although there will be some rain and drizzle around in earlier in the evening, with a noticeable breeze.

Don’t forget, you can get the latest forecast for your location on the Channel 4 Weather website. I also post regular updates on Twitter – @liamdutton