Disruption on roads again as drivers coming home after Christmas warned of 70mph winds in Storm Gerrit
26 December 2023, 08:09 | Updated: 26 December 2023, 12:28
People travelling home after Christmas celebrations have been warned of unsettled conditions throughout much of the week.
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After an unseasonably mild Christmas Day, temperatures are set to fall again, and wind speeds could rise to 70mph in parts of the country on Wednesday as millions drive home again.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for ice, wind and rain that are in place from Boxing Day onwards.
Low pressure moving across the country on December 26 is set to bring unsettled weather conditions for much of the country.
Some Scottish cities like Aberdeen and Inverness are set to become icy as snow clears up, which could make for treacherous driving conditions.
Greg Dewhurst, a Met Office forecaster, said that Boxing Day would be "chilly". He added: "Wintry showers will continue to feed in from the North throughout the day"
Mr Dewhurst said: "Temperatures are a little nearer to normal for this time of year, generally 4C-6C in the North and a little milder in the South with 9C or 10C."
It comes after a mild Christmas Day that was also a White Christmas for some. Parts of Scotland saw snow on December 25, while the record for the highest daily minimum temperature for Christmas Day was broken in the south of England.
A temperature of 13.6C was recorded at Exeter Airport, making this year the warmest Christmas Day since 2016.
But this is set to change later in the week, particularly on Wednesday when the Met Office has warnings for wind, snow and rain across much of the country. The inclement weather has been named Storm Gerrit.
The south-east has a wind warning in place, the south-west, most of Wales and much of northern England have rain warnings, and much of central and northern Scotland has a snow and rain warning.
Mr Dewhurst said: "Do take care if you are travelling on Wednesday. There will be strong winds around the coast in the South and the West, we could see gusts of up to 60 and 70mph."
He added that it would be "a very unsettled day, so do take care."
Meanwhile it emerged that drivers were put at risk on Christmas Day when emergency phones on the side of motorways failed across large swathes of the UK.
Roadside phones in the northeast, northwest, East Midlands and east of England were all affected from the early morning, with National Highways said they were experiencing some "technology issues". The issue was resolved by late afternoon.
