More than 240 flood warnings remained in place across England and Wales on Saturday (January 6) as conditions continue to cause travel disruptions across the UK.
While the Met Office predicts the wet weather has passed, water levels remain high across parts of the UK with hundreds of flood warnings still in place.
On top of this colder temperatures are predicted in the coming days with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issuing a yellow cold weather alert.
The Met Office has said temperatures could drop to as low as minus (-) 6C in some parts of the UK in the coming days.
Over 200 flood warnings still in force across England and Wales and while there are some showers today, for most it's a dry day...https://t.co/DZH80ODSEv | Simon pic.twitter.com/xqgaOojPxV
— BBC Weather (@bbcweather) January 6, 2024
Flood Warnings in place in England and Wales
The Environment Agency had 245 flood warnings (where flooding is expected) in place across England on Saturday (January 6) - at the time of publication.
This was down from more than 300 on Friday (January 5).
There are also 259 flood alerts (where flooding is possible) in place across England.
You can see all the flood warnings in place across England on a live map here (on the Gov.uk website).
Natural Resources Wales has warnings in place on the River Wye at Monmouth and the River Ritec at Tenby.
While there are also nine flood alerts in place in Wales (at the time of publication).
You can see all the flood warnings and alerts in place across Wales on the Natural Resource Wales website here.
Data from the Environment Agency showed almost every river in England has reached exceptionally high levels with some reaching record levels.
Met Office predicts temperatures to drop below 0 in the coming days
The Met Office predicted Saturday would bring a dry day to most areas with some sunny spells, although there will be a few showers along the coast.
Brits will begin feeling the cold overnight with frost and fog patches forecast.
A chilly but bright start to Saturday morning in the north and west, with sunny spells, a scattering of showers and also a few icy stretches ❕
— Met Office (@metoffice) January 5, 2024
Staying rather cloudy in the east, with some patchy light rain in places 🌧️ pic.twitter.com/q6WOQp9kMu
The Met Office said temperatures will drop to -4C in parts of rural south-west England on Saturday night and -6C in rural areas along the Welsh border in Shropshire and north Herefordshire on Sunday night.
Sunday is forecast to remain largely dry, except for the occasional shower in southeast England early in the day.
The cold weather is expected to continue for most of next week.
Yellow cold weather warning issued by UKHSA
As temperatures get set to drop to -6C in some parts of the UK, the UKHSA has issued a yellow cold weather alert for the vulnerable and elderly.
This warning will come into force from 9am on Saturday (January 6) and will remain in place until midday on January 12.
The UKHSA, as part of its yellow warning, said "significant impacts" are possible across the health and social care sector due to forecast cold weather conditions.
These impacts could include:
- Increase in morality across the population (particularly in people aged 65 and over or with underlying health issues)
- Increased demand for remote health care services
- Impact on ability of services delivered due to effects on workforce
- Maintaining indoor temperatures at recommended 18C may become challenging which could lead to an increased risk of vulnerable people.
The yellow cold weather warning will be in place in the following regions:
- East Midlands
- West Midlands
- North West
- North East
- Yorkshire and The Humber
- East of England
- South East
- South West
- London
For more details on the yellow cold weather warning visit the UK Health Security Agency website.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel