The build up to Christmas will see strong winds and rain

The Met Office has said that in the build up to Christmas there will be a mix of weather which will bring strong winds and rain before it starts to turn cold.

This week low pressure will dominate the weather and most of the south will see rain on Tuesday before moving up north with sunny spells.

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Helen Caughey, said, “Wind speeds will increase from the northwest through Wednesday evening and overnight, so that by Thursday there is a risk of  gusts of 50-60mph for a large swathe of central and northern parts of the UK.

“Coastal locations, higher ground, and areas to the east of high ground could see gusts of 70-80mph.

“Due to the scale of the low pressure to the north of the UK, it is possible this event could persist across some areas into Friday, so we recommend keeping up to date with the Met Office forecast.”

⚠️ Yellow weather warning issued ⚠️

Strong winds across central and northern areas of the UK

Thursday 0000 – 2359

Latest info 👉 https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs

Stay #WeatherAware⚠️ pic.twitter.com/Z2OIi53HCd

— Met Office (@metoffice) December 18, 2023

The weather over Christmas will see a ban of rain in the south and it will start off being colder with showery conditions in the north with milder and wetter weather in the south.

Wintry showers will continue in the north and in rural areas it will be colder and there is likely to be frost on Christmas morning.

Helen added, “As we begin Christmas Day wintry showers initially feeding in across the north in the colder air mass would technically make it a white Christmas, as we only need to see a single flake falling.

“Elsewhere, while it is likely at first to be mostly dry there is the potential for rain approaching from the west later on.

“As this moves east, we may see rain turning to snow, at least over high ground. It’s unlikely that we will see widespread or settling snow giving any proper accumulations.

“Although technically it might be a white Christmas, don’t get your hopes up for a picture-perfect white landscape.”