Swinney urges Hogmanay revellers to ‘pay close attention’ to weather warnings

The Scottish First Minister has urged people to “pay close attention” to weather warnings in place throughout the Hogmanay period.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for most of the country on December 30 and 31, with heavy rain and snow potentially causing “significant disruption” in the build-up to the new year.

The warning applies to the Scottish mainland from Kilmarnock and Edinburgh north, and the Western Isles, with most areas expected to see 50 to 70mm of rain across the two days – though up to 140mm could fall in some places.

The forecaster added that snow is also “likely” on higher ground north and east of, and including, Perthshire, with strong winds potentially causing blizzard conditions in some areas, particularly over higher ground and across much of Sutherland and Caithness.

The Met Office said the weather is likely to cause difficult driving conditions and some road closures, flooding, power cuts, disruption to public transport, and that some communities could be cut off.

It also warned “fast flowing or deep floodwater” is possible, causing a danger to life.

In an interview with the PA news agency on Saturday, John Swinney said the Scottish Government is “monitoring the weather warnings very closely”.

He added: “We have yellow weather warnings for rain, predominantly, over most of Scotland, for Monday and Tuesday, which may well have an effect on some of the outdoor events that are taking their course.

“We’re obviously at the vagaries of the weather this time of year, it’s an inevitable feature we’ve got to wrestle with.

“But the resilience planning is undertaken across Government on a daily basis, and we are looking ahead to the events around about Hogmanay to make sure that everybody can enjoy the festivities but be safe in the process.

“I would urge members of the public to follow all of the warnings because they will develop over the course of the next few days and it’s vital that all of us pay close attention to those warnings.”