20
Dec
Local attractions close as another weather warning looms
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Local attractions have announced weekend closures as the Harrogate district prepares for another weather warning for wind.
The warning is in place tomorrow (December 21) from 7am to 11.59pm.
Strong westerly winds are expected to develop throughout the day with gusts of 50 mph to 60 mph, and a small chance of gusts reaching 70 mph around some high areas.
Harrogate’s Ferris wheel, which has continued to operate this week after the Christmas fayre ended, is to close by 7pm this evening (December 20).
It was due to remain active until Sunday (December 22).
Fountains Abbey will be closed on Saturday and said it was “monitoring the forecast” for Sunday.
The National Trust venue shared an update on social media which said:
Our rangers and gardeners have been closely monitoring the forecast as the safety of our staff and visitors is paramount and unfortunately the wind gusts are too high to safely open and welcome visitors. Very sadly this means our Christmas events, including On the Hoof and the group storytelling sessions will not be going ahead on Saturday.
The yellow weather warning is in place across the district tomorrow
Harrogate’s RHS Garden Harlow Carr will be partially closed and tomorrow evening’s RHS Glow event has been cancelled.
The garden, indoor garden centre and Bettys Tea Rooms will remain open as usual while the woodlands, alpine house and play areas will be closed.
The Met Office has said that the wind has “the potential to cause delays to public transport and some disruption to the road network, which may have a greater than usual impact given the busier pre-Christmas weekend travel".
Currently the weather warning for Sunday is not predicted to affect the Harrogate district but wind speeds are expected to remain high across the UK before lessening ahead of Christmas.
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, Rebekah Hicks, said:
We’ll start to see high pressure to the south of the UK bringing in more settled and much milder conditions from Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day itself will be cloudy for most, although some eastern areas of the UK, most likely eastern Scotland, may see some clear or sunny spells. We could see some drizzle across hills in the west, and some more persistent rain is possible for northwest Scotland but overall, it will be a fairy cloudy, nondescript day.
Conditions on Christmas Day and Boxing Day look to be exceptionally mild for the time of year, especially in the north. East and northeast Scotland, for example, could see overnight temperatures that are 10°C above average on Christmas morning.
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