Edinburgh Hogmanay weather

As Scotland prepares for Hogmanay, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. There has been heavy rain and strong, gusty winds causing some disruption to rail and ferry travel. There will be impactful winds on New Year's Eve and even some snow for the high ground in the north, and for the start of 2025. Edinburgh will see rain in the day, feel a bit chilly and looks windy throughout Hogmanay.

“Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year or New Year’s Eve” 

There is now an extended ‘Edinburgh Hogmanay Festival’ which has become one of the major outdoor celebrations of New Year’s Eve in the world. The Hogmanay festival usually includes a torchlight procession, a massive outdoor street party, a live headline concert and fireworks. The traditional peak is at midnight with the bells ringing in the New Year as thousands of revellers join hands and sing “Auld Lang Syne”.

The mid-winter plans often have to battle the Scottish weather. Already this year the torchlight procession has fallen foul of the high winds. Organisers decided that the windy conditions were too much on Sunday evening for people to be wandering about with lit torches and embers flying about. 

The Christmas market, ice rink and funfair have also seen delayed opening times on Monday morning. “Due to the high winds in the area, we will be opening some of our Edinburgh Christmas sites later than scheduled”

Monday 30th

Monday morning has been very windy for Lothian with a fresh and gusty WSW wind. There has been some shelter from the main area of rain which continues to feed into western Scotland as the main frontal band edges southwards.

The Night Afore Disco Party with DJ Hot Dub Time Machine beneath Edinburgh Castle will have organisers watching the weather on Monday. The Night Afore Concert with indie-rock band Idlewild is indoors.  It does look wet, it will feel cool but shouldn’t be as windy.

Rain is in the forecast but the wild winds should ease this afternoon in quite a distinct change. It will feel colder in the damp weather coming off the Forth as the breeze backs all the way to an easterly.

There are Met Office warnings for rain, wind and snow over Scotland in the next few days. Edinburgh is covered by a combined Rain & Snow warning and a wind warning by day although the Central Belt is at the edge of both warning areas. 

“Heavy rain and snow may bring significant disruption in the build-up to New Year.” This warning runs from Monday right through Tuesday although the forecast shows drier weather for eastern Scotland later on Tuesday. 

Through Monday night the rain band will head northwards and the brisk southwesterly wind will pick up again for Edinburgh and Lothian. The air will be mild if you are out of the wind and rain, up to 11C.

Tuesday Hogmanay

By Tuesday morning it will be a similar story to today, gusty winds with rain from the west. So some shelter with patchy outbreaks and grey skies. By Tuesday afternoon there could be brighter skies with hefty showers passing by. This time the fresh and gusty winds will continue. There will be rain, sleet and snow showers for the far north of Scotland and a band of frontal rain over Wales and central England but in between there could be some drier weather for central and southern Scotland, although still with the odd passing rain shower. It will feel cold in the wind.

The Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party starts at 8pm and the ticketed event usually includes a splendid firework display.

The terms and conditions include “ Please note this is an outdoor event taking place in winter in Scotland. Please dress accordingly and note that we operate a no-umbrellas policy to ensure the sightlines of other people." 

It will be the high winds that will be the main issue for Hogmanay in Edinburgh.

Met Office “Strong westerly winds may lead to some travel disruption on New Year's Eve.”

Other parts of Scotland will see difficult weather conditions. Severe easterly gales for Orkney on Tuesday after early snow. More rain for Scotland, particularly in the northwest where there has already been disruption to rail services. There will also be snow over the high ground of northern Scotland. 

There is an amber rain warning around the Great Glen for western Moray and part of Highland and concerns about river levels across Speyside.

“Another period of heavy rain is expected to develop during Monday night and persist through Tuesday morning …This is likely to lead to significant travel disruption and may result in some flooding of properties.” MO

SEPA “ Rivers will continue to rise into Tuesday… Exposed coastal areas could be hazardous later on Hogmanay with some high waves.”

By Wednesday, 1st January Edinburgh might see some snow flurries passing by. It will be much colder in a northerly wind, with an air temperature of barely +2C and feeling more like -1C.

Forecast for Edinburgh