New Year’s Day: Homes flooded as wind and rain batter much of UK

Around 90mm of rain has fallen widely across north west England over the last 24 hours with over 100mm recorded on some hills in north Wales and Cumbria.

There are lane closures on several motorways and roads of north west England.

Rain and strong winds will continue to affect parts of southern England and East Anglia, but the weather will become drier and brighter across Wales, the Midlands and north England with the strong winds easing.

A weather front over Scotland is bringing rain with some sleet and snow over hills. It will bring much colder arctic air as it move southwards, with sunny spells and snow showers following.

A few centimetres of snow is expected at low elevations overnight, but the hills of north Scotland are likely to see 5-10cm of snow in places bringing some local disruption.

It will feel increasingly bitter as arctic air reaches all areas by Thursday.

Over the weekend, there is a yellow snow warning in place for the vast majority of the UK, stretching from southern Scotland, across north England, the Midlands, Wales, over London and across much of the south east and west.

An area of low pressure will move into this cold air on Sunday bringing rain and some disruptive snow on its northern edge.