It looks set to be a wet and windy week in the run-up to the new year celebrations, forecasters have said.
The Met Office said there could be some “potentially disruptive weather and it is certainly going to turn much more unsettled” from Tuesday.
Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan also warned that shoppers who are looking for bargains in the sales could see some “pretty unpleasant conditions” while there may be “some difficult driving conditions at times in the coming week”.
He said: “We will see fairly frequent bands of heavy rain moving across the country. It will often be windy with gales at times and possibly some severe gales around the coastal regions.
“It is windy through the coming week, including New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. There will be some very windy conditions at times and we will all see some heavy rain but the rain will be particularly heavy in the west.
“The vast majority of the UK will not see any frosts and will not see any snow. It is generally staying mild.
“I think from a disruption point of view, this will probably be caused by the winds.
“If you are travelling there may well be some pretty strong winds to take into account when you are driving along the roads and the buffeting of high-sided vehicles.
“I don’t think there is going to be a widespread severe weather through the coming week but there is still some pretty unpleasant conditions at times and not particularly nice if you are standing waiting in line for shops to open for the sales – but certainly there is not much snow forecast for the majority of the UK.”
A number of weather warnings for snow and ice covering much of Scotland and north-west England have been issued from Monday evening and on Tuesday.
This comes as wintry showers could lead to an ice risk on untreated surfaces.
A yellow weather warning for snow and ice states: “Wintry showers will continue through this evening, gradually fading overnight into the early hours of Tuesday morning. Accumulating snow will be focused across Highland and Grampian overnight with a further 1-4 cm likely in places above around 150 metres, although patchy snow could accumulate at low levels especially in the far north. The main hazard, however, looks like being ice developing on untreated surfaces.”
Mr Morgan said northern Scotland could see quite a lot of snow on Tuesday, with temperatures of around 1C.
Wednesday is set to be mild in England and Wales with highs of 12C, and possibly 7C in Scotland and Northern Ireland, before it turns colder for much of the UK, but at 8C in the south and around 6C in the north this will be “nothing out of the ordinary for late December”, according to Mr Morgan.
Mild conditions are expected for most of England and Wales on Friday and temperatures could hit 13C in the far south while Scotland and Northern Ireland may reach 8C.
Similar conditions are possible for New Year’s Eve, with revellers in the south potentially facing 11-12C while it may reach 5-8C in the north.
