Cold health alert issued for Christmas Day
The alert runs from 6pm on Christmas Day to 12pm on December 27 for south-west England.
A cold health alert has been issued for Christmas Day, as forecasters said the prospect of a white Christmas was “highly unlikely”.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a yellow cold health alert from 6pm on Christmas Day to 12pm on December 27 for south-west England.
The agency said low temperatures are likely to have minor impacts on health and social care services including “increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people” and a “greater risk to life of vulnerable people”.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for wind affecting the south west of England and much of Wales from 4am to 11.59pm on Christmas Day.
The weather service said east to north-easterly winds will become particularly strong and gusty during Christmas Day, with peak gusts fairly widely of 45-55mph, but 55-65mph possible along some exposed coasts and to the west of prominent hills.
It added that “given the more unusual wind direction, this may lead to some disruption to transport and power supplies” and that “large waves will be an additional hazard on some coasts”.
Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said Christmas Day would see “pretty decent” conditions with mainly dry weather.
He told the Press Association: “On Christmas Day there will be a bright start in the south of England and then into Wales as well as the cloud clears.
“It will be cloudier further north, but there will be some cloud breaks starting to break through by lunchtime, and some good sunny spells establishing further north as well.
“The other notable factor will be the wind, so with the positioning of the high pressure there is a quite strong easterly wind, particularly across the south coast of England, so it could be quite gusty there.
“High pressure is now firmly in control of the weather across the UK, bringing a much more settled spell, and also cooler temperatures than we’ve had of late.”
Mr Claydon said it was “highly unlikely” that the UK would see a white Christmas this year.
He added: “We’ve got a very dry picture across the UK over the next few days.
“The only vague possibility is there’s a little band of rain that’s skirting westwards across the Channel through tomorrow and there’s an outside chance it could clip the south-west of England.
“The chances of any snow falling out of that are very low.”
Mr Claydon said the highest temperatures on Christmas Day were forecast to be around 7C in north-east England and 6C in south or south-east England.
He added that frost and freezing temperatures are likely in western rural areas overnight on Christmas Day into Boxing Day with minus 6C possible in rural parts of Scotland and minus 4C in rural Wales.
The RAC said it was expecting festive getaway trips by car to peak on Christmas Eve at 4.2 million, with regular commuter traffic “likely to be far lighter”.
A spokesperson for the RAC said: “Traffic is expected to be heaviest on major roads between 1pm and 7pm, so our advice to drivers – especially those travelling longer distances – is to set out before this time if possible.
“Main roads to watch for jams are the clockwise northern and western sections of the M25 from mid-morning, and the M5 north from Gloucestershire towards the West Midlands later in the afternoon.”
