Christmas Day West Midlands weather report: What to expect on the day as cold health alert issued for part of England
The West Midlands is set for a cold but dry Christmas, with heavy wind chill forecast - and little chance of snow.
Christmas Day is expected to be mostly dry with variable amounts of cloud and sunny spells in places.
In the Black Country and Staffordshire the temperature is expected to be around 3C for most of the day - though a strong easterly wind (with gusts reaching around 33mph locally) will make that feel noticeably lower (between -3C at around 9am and 1C at 2pm). The chance of rain is very low and communities across the West Midlands are expected to see a lot of sun in the morning and well into the afternoon (between 8am and 3pm in Wolverhampton, Dudley, Oldbury and West Bromwich, and from 9am in Walsall and Cannock).
Elsewhere in England a cold health alert has been issued for Christmas Day, as forecasters said the prospect of a white Christmas was “highly unlikely”.
The UK Health Security Agency has issued a yellow cold health alert from 6pm on Christmas Day to 12pm on December 27 for southwest England.
The agency said 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”.
Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said Christmas Day would see “pretty decent” conditions with mainly dry weather.
He said “On Christmas Day there will be a bright start in the south of England and then into Wales as well as the cloud clears.
“It will be cloudier further north, but there will be some cloud breaks starting to break through by lunchtime, and some good sunny spells establishing further north as well.
“The other notable factor will be the wind, so with the positioning of the high pressure there is a quite strong easterly wind, particularly across the south coast of England, so it could be quite gusty there.
“High pressure is now firmly in control of the weather across the UK, bringing a much more settled spell, and also cooler temperatures than we’ve had of late.”
The theme continues into Boxing Day with generally dry, cool conditions and a frosty morning likely, especially in rural areas.
Plenty of bright spells are possible, but temperatures will stay low, so cold weather gear is advisable for any post-Christmas outings, including West Brom's home match against Bristol City and Walsall's home match against Crewe.
High pressure is likely to remain close to the UK in the run-up to the new year, bringing largely settled conditions with frost and fog in places, and a mixture of sunny spells and variable amounts of cloud.
