The Met Office has warned of more flight disruption in the coming days as it issues a series of weather warnings, including snow for much of the UK from Saturday.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for snow covering much of England, Wales and southern Scotland, starting at 12 noon on Saturday (4 January). The warning will remain until 9am on Monday (6 January).
Before that, there is a weather warning for ice in place from 5pm today (2 January) until 10am on Friday (3 January) in northwest England, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. And a warning for snow and ice is in place from 4pm today, covering northeast Scotland.
Saturday’s yellow warning warning covers an area from Edinburgh to the south coast of England, but not the southwest.
About 5cm of snow is expected across the Midlands, Wales and northern England, with more over high ground.
The Met Office said: “Heavy snow may cause some disruption over the weekend.
“There is a chance of travel delays on roads… along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel.”
Meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “It’s definitely going to start off as snow in many places, but it’s a question of how quickly that snow melts and turns back to rain. It’s more likely that the snow won’t last that long in southern England.
“If you’ve got travel plans on Sunday, and perhaps Monday, stay tuned into the forecast.”
The first cold snap of 2025 follows heavy fog over the last few days of 2024, which led to flight cancellations at several airports, with Gatwick Airport the worst affected, and NATS putting in temporary air traffic restrictions.
Wind and rain caused problems on New Year’s Eve, with some events, including Edinburgh’s Hogmanay being cancelled.
There was widespread flooding on New Year’s Day, including in Manchester, when Greater Manchester Police had to declare a major incident. The Guardian reports 36 flights were cancelled at Heathrow Airport on New Year’s Day, when gusty conditions forced the airport to reduce the rate of arrivals.
