Britons are bracing for a week of snowfall and a sharp drop in temperatures, which will hit below freezing in some areas on New Year’s Day.

Fresh weather warnings for snow were also issued by the Met Office on Wednesday, including a three-day yellow warning covering almost all of England, Wales, and southern Scotland over the weekend.

The yellow snow warning will be in place from 12pm on Saturday until 9am on Monday, and the Met Office said travel delays and power cuts should be expected in the worst affected areas of the Midlands, Wales and northern England – which could see anything between 5cm and 30cm of snow.

There is a “fair bit of uncertainty” as to how far north the snow will spread and how long it will last, the forecaster says, but “significant accumulations of snow are possible”.

Heavy rain has caused a canal to breach in the civil parish of Dunham Massey, Greater Manchester.

It is the first time the canal has been breached since 1971, according to Altrincham Today.

A yellow weather warning for wind which covered the southern half of the UK, including Wales, has now been lifted.

The warning was in place until 3pm on Wednesday and saw some areas battered with winds up to 75mph causing “small chance of injuries and danger to life from flying debris”.

Two yellow weather warnings remain in place until 10am tomorrow, for snow and ice in northern Scotland and for ice in northern England, Northern Ireland and the rest of Scotland.

The number of flood warnings in place across the UK – which means flooding is expected in an area – now stands at 91.

This includes 68 in England, issued by the Environment Agency, 15 in Scotland, issued by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, and eight in Wales, issued by Natural Resources Wales.

There are also 131 flood alerts in place – the least severe of the three-tier warning system.

The Met Office has updated its forecast for the week ahead.

Here’s what chief forecaster Dan Holley said: “An Atlantic frontal system is likely to move across parts of central and southern UK through the weekend. With milder, moisture-laden air engaging with the cold conditions already in place this may bring a spell of snow in some areas, before possibly turning back to rain in the south.

“At this stage there is a fair amount of uncertainty over exactly which areas will see disruptive snow, with parts of Wales, northern England and the Midlands most likely to see some impacts.

“Here we could see 5cm or more in quite a few areas, and perhaps as much as 20-30cm over high ground, including Wales and the Pennines. Coupled with strengthening winds this could lead to drifting, making travelling conditions difficult over higher-level routes in particular.

“We’ve currently issued a Yellow warning for snow covering a large part of England, Wales and southern Scotland to cater for possible disruption over the weekend, but it’s quite likely this will be refined over the coming days as confidence in the forecast increases. So it’s worth keeping up to date with the latest warnings.”

TransPennine Express, which runs intercity trains in northern England and southern Scotland is urging customers not to travel on New Year’s Day morning “as persistent heavy rain has caused flooding on several routes – primarily in the north west”.

The company says: “The flooding is causing significant issues in Greater Manchester and Cheshire and is impacting many service across the major trans-Pennine routes. “With the heavy rain set to continue for several hours, further flooding is likely and rail travellers have been advised to delay journeys, at least until the afternoon.”

Passengers are urged “to defer their travel or claim a refund”.

Northern warns: “Flooding between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly means that all lines are disrupted. Trains running between these stations will be cancelled or revised. Disruption is expected until 12 noon.”

Lines between Liverpool and Manchester are also blocked.

Here’s what the rest of New Year’s Day will look like weather-wise, as per the Met Office:

Thousands of airline passengers face disruption on New Year’s Day after 36 flights to and from London Heathrow were cancelled.

They have been grounded in response to a reduction in the “flow rate” of arrivals at the UK’s busiest airport.

British Airways cancelled 28 European flights linking Heathrow with destinations such as Barcelona, Copenhagen and Nice. Two round-trips to Milan have been grounded.

A spokesperson for BA said: “We operate hundreds of flights every day without disruption, successfully getting tens of thousands of our customers to where they need to be.

“Like other airlines, we’ve had to make some small adjustments to our schedule today because of air traffic control restrictions across London airports due to adverse weather conditions.

“While the vast majority of our customers will be unaffected, we apologise for the inconvenience caused and our teams are working hard to help get their journeys back on track.”

Other cancellations have been made by Swiss from Geneva and Zurich, Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Air France from Paris CDG.