Edinburgh weather: Met Office issues yellow weather warning for snow and ice - what to expect

The Met Office has issued a fresh weather warning for snow and ice in Edinburgh starting Sunday (December 18).
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The Met Office has issued another yellow weather warning of snow and ice across the whole of Edinburgh. Travellers in the city could face disruption over the weekend.

The news was confirmed by the Met Office on Thursday (December 15) and will come into effect on Sunday (December 18) morning at 3am and continue till 9pm on Sunday evening. The Met Office has warned the conditions could bring a risk of injuries from slips and falls on ice.

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Edinburgh has been hit notoriously heavy by the snow this year with a white Christmas blessing Scotland’s capital last weekend. With Edinburgh having been issued a few yellow weather warnings, an updated one will come as no surprise. It’s expected the extreme weather is moving from the west and will soon turn to rain.

Outbreaks of snow are expected to affect Edinburgh tomorrow but the wintry showers will turn to sleet and rain as we head into the evening. However, the Met Office has warned there might be long periods of snowfall on Sunday.

Paul Gundersen, Met Office Chief Forecaster, said: “Over the last week, the UK has been held in a northerly airflow bringing cold, sometimes Arctic air, to the UK. We will still have this northerly influence to our weather patterns until the weekend, but then the cold conditions will lose exclusive dominance over the UK’s weather patterns and we will move into a regime where relatively mild and relatively cold conditions will vie for supremacy.

“We can expect changeable conditions with colder and milder air not too far away from our shores, but it does seem that the Atlantic ‘has woken up’ compared with recent days and will be a stronger influence, countering any further bouts of extreme cold conditions, although spells of further wintry weather remain possible through the rest of December.”

What to expect during the Met Office weather warning in Edinburgh

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The Met Office has issued the whole of Edinburgh a yellow weather warning, which is the most mild of the three weather warnings issued.The weather organisation warn that those affected by the warning could expect the following:

  • Possible travel delays on roads stranding some vehicles and passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel.
  • Some rural communities could become cut off
  • Power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage
  • A chance of injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces

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