New Year's Day travel warning for Scots after wild Hogmanay weather

A New Year's Day travel warning has been issued for Scots after yesterday's wild Hogmanay weather. The country is waking up - some perhaps more refreshed than others - after a night of turbulent weather to accompany their celebrations.

The run up to 2025 was met with a host of Met Office yellow and amber weather warnings for snow, ice, heavy rain, and strong wind across many regions. Tuesday saw roads closed, trains cancelled and power cuts, namely around Inverness and the Highlands.

Hundreds of Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks customers were impacted, with engineers forced to work right up until the bells to give light to those in the dark. Greater manpower is in place today in case of further glitches.

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Travel wise, trains between Inverness and Perth were cancelled following the closure of the main railway line in the Highlands, while a landslip blocked the line at Brora and flooding halted all services between Wick and Thurso.

ScotRail services were also disrupted by "very heavy rainfall". The north of Scotland continues to pose "challenges," but trains will resume on January 2. There are no services on New Year’s Day.

"Network Rail will take that time to inspect the roots and carry out any repair work, so that hopefully we can get back to a full, normal timetable on Thursday," David Ross, ScotRail's communications director, told BBC Scotland.

The whole of Scotland is currently under a yellow weather warning for snow and ice. Grampian, Highland and Orkney have been slapped with a snow warning that is in effect from 4am on Wednesday until 9am on Thursday.

Regions above 984ft (300m) could see as much as 10cm of snow. Central, Tayside & Fife, Grampian, Highlands & Eilean Siar, SW Scotland, Lothian Borders, and Strathclyde are under a yellow ice warning until 10am on Thursday.

Where flooding is concerned, nine regions remain on flood alert, and there are 32 more localised flood warnings. The flood alerts are in place for Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City, Argyll and Bute, Caithness and Sutherland, Central, Easter Ross and Great Glen, Findhorn, Nairn, Moray and Speyside, Skye and Lochaber, Tayside, and Wester Ross.

Speyside, Great Glen and Tayside are the areas at greatest risk, according to SEPA, who issued a stark warning that houses and roads could be flooded due to rivers continuing to rise on Ne'erday.

“While we thankfully did not see some of the very high levels predicted around Aviemore and Carrbridge, there is still a particular concern for communities along the Spey river," Pascal Lardet, SEPA’s Flood Duty Manager, said.

"Other catchments affected include the Tay, Ness, Forth and Teith. I want to be clear that communities in these areas should stay alert throughout New Year's Day as some rivers will continue to rise. People should still take any required action to protect themselves and their property."

Mr Lardet added: "It’s been a difficult few days across Scotland... across many areas of the country there is still some deep standing water and it’s really important people are prepared and aware of the danger."

SEPA urged people not to walk or drive into flood water as, alarmingly, 30cm of fast flowing water can move an average family sized car, and just 15cm of fast flowing water could be enough to knock you off your feet.

Drivers should also remain vigilant on the roads today, Transport Scotland have urged. A spokesperson said: "Although the amber warning and the worst of the conditions has now hopefully passed, we would still urge the public to check before they travel. Please drive to the conditions, follow police travel advice, and allow extra time for your journeys.

"There is still a fair amount of localised flooding and a number of weather warnings remain in place. We've chaired another call with our key operational partners and the Multi Agency Response Team to ensure operating companies have suitable resources in place."

Despite Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party and fireworks being axed, leaving tourists who had travelled specifically for the event scrambling for alternative plans, organisers said New Year’s Eve was a success. Some events were rearranged to be held indoors, including Australian DJ Hot Dub Time Machine, who had been due to perform in Princes Street Gardens but was moved to the Assembly Halls.

A spokesman for Unique Assembly, which organises Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said: “It’s been a challenging week for everyone involved – from tourists and locals who planned to ring in the New Year at the famous Street Party, and staff who have been working hard to ensure events can still take place.

"Thanks to the support of our event partners across the city, we were still able to host celebrations indoors... we’re proud to show the world you can’t stop the party where Edinburgh is concerned.”

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