London, Thanasis Gavos

Outdoor events to welcome the New Year have been canceled by local authorities in Scotland and northern England due to warnings issued by the Met Office for strong winds and rain.

Edinburgh’s traditional Hogmanay is the most famous New Year’s Eve celebration to be canceled “due to public safety”.

Organizers apologized mainly to tourists who traveled to see Tuesday’s and Monday’s events, which were also cancelled, saying it was unsafe to carry out the program of outdoor concerts and ceremonies.

Among other things, the always spectacular firework display from Edinburgh Castle at the turn of the year has been cancelled.

Another major event canceled is the New Year’s Eve fireworks display in the seaside resort of Blackpool, due to forecasts of winds in north-west England that could reach 120km/h.

Further south in Britain, the weather is expected to be somewhat milder, but the City of London has said it is monitoring weather changes in case changes to the 2025 host schedule are needed.

The events will culminate in a midnight local firework display on the London Eye on the banks of the Thames, with 100,000 lucky ticket holders.

Most of the weather warnings are for Scotland and refer to both wind and rain as well as snow in the more north and uplands. The warnings are in place until the New Year, with an additional yellow frost warning until the morning of January 2.

In England the warnings concern mainly strong winds but also heavy rain in the north and west until the New Year.