Cold health alert and weather warnings issued for parts of UK on Christmas Day

A cold health alert and weather warnings have been issued for parts of the UK on Christmas Day, as forecasters dashed hopes of a white Christmas.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued the yellow alert for south-west England from 18:00 on 25 December to midday on 27 December.

Gusts of up to 65mph (105 km/h) form part of a Met Office warning for the South West. Organisers of some Christmas and Boxing Day swims in Devon and Cornwall have had to cancel events.

The Met Office warning also affects Somerset and a large swathe of Wales, stretching from Cardiff and Swansea up to Bangor.

In total, the Met Office warning covers 18 of Wales’ 22 council areas.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said it was “highly unlikely” the UK would see a white Christmas.

“We’ve got a very dry picture across the UK over the next few days,” he added.

Although not an official part of the UK, the crown dependency of Jersey experienced snow on Thursday morning.

The Jersey Met Section said it was only the third time since records began that snow was observed on the island on Christmas Day and the first time since 1970.

According to UKHSA, low temperatures are likely to have minor impacts on health and social care services including “increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people” and a “greater risk to life of vulnerable people”.

The Met Office said east to north-easterly winds would become particularly strong and gusty during Christmas Day.

Gusts are expected to peak fairly widely at 45-55mph, but 55-65mph is possible along some exposed coasts and to the west of prominent hills.

It added that “given the more unusual wind direction, this may lead to some disruption to transport and power supplies” and that “large waves will be an additional hazard on some coasts”.

Claydon said the highest temperatures on Christmas Day were forecast to be around 7C (45F) in North East England and 6C in south or South East England.

He added that frost and freezing temperatures are likely in western rural areas overnight on Christmas Day into Boxing Day with -6C possible in rural parts of Scotland and -4C in rural Wales.

According to the Met Office, large waves in south-western coastal areas are an additional hazard.

Organisers of the Coverack swim in Cornwall said with the weather forecast it would be “too dangerous” for the event to go ahead and postponed the event until New Year’s Day.

Start Bay Inn, in Devon, said it was “really sad” to announce its Boxing Day swim had been cancelled, while the RNLI Teignmouth took a similar decision insisting “safety considerations must come first”.