Snow and frost cast a chill on New Year celebrations

NEW year travellers face the combined threat of snow and ice as celebrations continue across the country today.

The Met Office has issued a yellow ‘be aware’ warning of severe weather affecting parts of Scotland this morning.

Overnight temperatures were due to fall as low as -6C, leading weathermen to warn that untreated roads and pavements will pose a hazard to drivers and pedestrians.

In elevated parts of the Highlands, Grampian and Scottish Borders up to 2in of snow is expected.

Matt Roe of the Met Office in Aberdeen said: ‘There will be a widespread overnight frost across Scotland, away from exposed northern coasts, lasting into Monday morning. Quite widely, we will see temperatures between -3C and -6C. On Monday, there could be snow down to low levels, but later turning to rain.

Some transport services will begin running services again today. First-footers in Scotland experienced temperatures of 3C and 4C (37F and 39F) on Hogmanay as earlier rain cleared away.

The cold snap comes as it was claimed gloomy BBC weather forecasts are putting us off visiting stately homes.

The Historic Houses Association, which has more than 1,600 members, is now urging the Corporation to be more upbeat.

James Birch, president of the Historic Houses Association and owner of Doddington Hall, near Lincoln, said the group had asked the BBC and the Met Office – which currently supplies the BBC with its forecast – to be ‘more even handed’.

He argued that it does not rain nearly as often in Britain as people perceive, adding: ‘If you bicycle as I used to do, it is amazing how infrequently you get rained on.’

The association has sent a group of board members to the BBC and the Met Office to talk to them about their interpretation of the weather.

It is also trying to organise a survey of its members to see if the Met Office’s predictions had proved correct. But somewhat ironically, the first attempt – over the August 2015 Bank Holiday weekend – was called off amid torrential rain. It is now planning a second survey.

Mr Birch told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘Weather forecasters, as a result of natural human behaviour, are gloomier about the weather than the actual outcome. People look at the weather, see that it says “patchy showers” and decide not to go out.’

Mr Birch said it would be fairer if forecasters said there was a ‘tiny risk of rain, it will be nice most of the day’. He added: ‘That has quite a negative effect on particularly domestic local tourism, so we have lobbied the Met Office to be slightly more optimistic.’

A BBC source told the newspaper it was mindful of the language it used during weather forecasts, bearing in mind rain was not always considered bad by everyone.

A spokesman added: ‘The public values BBC Weather for its clear, timely and accurate forecasts.’

The Met Office will lose its contract to supply BBC weather information to MeteoGroup in the spring. A spokesman said: ‘The Met Office is trusted to give the best possible guidance on the weather by the public and we forecast the weather without bias.’