Wales braces for travel delays amid wind and rain warnings for new year

Wales is braced for an unsettled start to 2025 with rain and wind expected to cause travel disruption over the new year transition period.

A yellow weather warning for heavy rain is in place for large parts of Wales from 6pm on New Year’s Eve until 6pm on New Year’s Day.

Spray and flooding on roads will probably make journey times longer and flooding of a few homes and businesses is likely.

A yellow weather warning for very strong winds is also in place for the whole of Wales on Wednesday (Jan 1) from 7:00am until 11:59pm.

The Met Office has warned there is a chance of longer journey times or cancellations and some damage to buildings, such as tiles blown from roofs.

There is a slight chance that power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage.

Almost every part of the UK is covered by at least one of the multiple weather warnings for snow, wind and rain between Monday and Thursday.

Scotland will be hit first by the turbulent weather, with “pulses of rain” and snow on Monday, meanwhile, northern England will be battered by blustery conditions, including gusts of up to 60mph, according to the forecaster.

Up to 20cm of snow may blanket areas of higher ground while strong winds have the potential to “exacerbate impacts”, creating “blizzard conditions” which could freeze powerlines.

Another warning has been issued for “persistent snow” likely to cause road disruption in Orkney and Shetland from 5am onwards on Tuesday.

Senior Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said: “Moving into New Year’s Eve, another system moves in from the Atlantic, again, Scotland bearing the brunt of this one with some further heavy rain and snow and strong winds.

“To the south, we will see some rain later on New Year’s Eve, but it shouldn’t cause too many problems, apart from if you’re out celebrating – you might get a bit damp.”

He added: “The main bit of advice from the Met Office over the coming days is, with the celebrations and people on the move throughout the new year and Hogmanay period, is the keep checking the forecast and to stay up to date with that.”

Those with travel plans should allow extra time for journeys and keep updated with flood alerts and warnings, Mr Snell said.

“With the multiple hazards going on across the UK, I think we can probably expect some travel delays right across the UK,” he added.