Met Office New Year’s Day weather forecast: Heavy rain, strong winds and snow to ring in 2025

With a series of National Severe Weather Warnings currently in place, it looks like the UK is set for a miserable start to 2025. New Year’s Eve has a number of alerts for wind, snow and rain across the UK, as well as an Amber Warning for rain in parts of Scotland.

Met Office chief meteorologist, Andy Page said: “Following a complex weather pattern featuring a series of low-pressure systems bringing strong winds, rain and even some snow, the forecast for the next few days has a much colder outlook.

“Heavy rain will affect parts of western and northern Scotland during Tuesday, with a separate band of rain moving south across northern England and North Wales through the afternoon. Strong winds will also be a feature across southern Scotland and northeast England, which may lead to some travel disruption on New Year’s Eve.”

People in Scotland are being urged to check their flood risk on the SEPA website.

New Year’s Day Met Office weather

It’s a mixed bag across the UK on New Year’s Day, according to the Met Office. Much of England and Wales will start wet and windy, while Northern Ireland and Scotland can expect colder conditions, with a mix of sunshine and wintry showers.

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.”

The national weather service is also warning of travel disruption thanks to snow and ice bringing difficult driving conditions on New Year’s Day and overnight until Thursday (January 2) in parts of northern Scotland.

It is likely that the whole of the UK will experience a change to colder conditions by Thursday, continuing into the weekend. A Met Office spokesperson said: “Wintry showers are expected to affect the far north and east at times, but away from these, sunshine will be much more widespread than in recent days. Overnight temperatures will widely fall below freezing, perhaps reaching minus double digits in areas of Scotland already covered in snow.”