London fireworks 2024: Is the event cancelled due to strong winds ...

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Snow, 70mph winds and floods have spoiled Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh, Blackpool’s fireworks have been scaled back to illumination as Newcastle’s plans for their first fireworks in years were also stopped.

Amid concerns for the country’s biggest - and sold out - New Year’s Eve celebrations in London were under threat as the capital is expected to be battered by 40mph winds.

Thousands are set to arrive on the Embankment on Tuesday evening to witness the spectacle, which draws huge crowds every year.

Are the London fireworks going ahead?

As of 3pm on Tuesday there are no plans to cancel the event. City Hall is closely monitoring the Met Office forecast featuring a yellow wind alert for the capital from 9am on Wednesday (New Year’s Day) until 6am on Thursday.

Sadiq Khan appeared to confirm the fireworks display will go ahead as usual as he urged those unable to grab a ticket to watch along from home promising everyone “an exciting new element” to the show.

The recently knighted Mayor of London, posted on X: “Tickets for the New Year’s Eve fireworks are sold out. Watch the magic live from home. Anyone tuning into BBC One will be able to see an exciting new element of the fireworks show.”

Darryl Fleming, the man organising London’s New Year’s Eve spectacular, has been monitoring the weather for the past seven days so he can deliver the event “as safely as possible”.

“The big enemy is the wind, so we have to plan for that in the design stage,” he told the BBC.

“The wind direction is in the right direction, and if we need to curtail parts of the show, we can do that, we have all those plans in place,” he adds.

“We don’t have massive big shells that have a high chance of being taken out of a show.

“From a broadcast point of view nobody is really going to see the difference and everybody will still enjoy the show.”

Expert Stephen Miller told The Sun that the wind carries a significant risk to the bigger fireworks.

“They’re the most spectacular but they’re the most dangerous because there’s a bigger bang and projection of fragmentation,” he said.

“If there is a risk you cut out the bigger fireworks. The wind speed and direction are the most important things.

“You need to make sure you’ve got a free area downwind so any debris that comes off the fireworks isn’t populated by people.”