London New Year fireworks receive major boost despite ‘big enemy’ weather warning cancelling displays across Britain

London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display is set to dazzle crowds despite weather concerns which have forced cancellations in other major UK cities.

While Edinburgh and Blackpool have already cancelled their displays due to high winds, the capital’s spectacular show is expected to proceed as planned.

Tens of thousands are expected to gather along the River Thames, with millions more watching on television.

Darryl Fleming, display director at Titanium Fireworks – which runs the show in the capital – remains confident about pulling things off, despite being “just a bit nervous” about the smooth preparations so far.

“The big enemy is the wind,” Fleming told the BBC, though he assured that rain would not pose a problem for the display.

The display team has implemented extensive preparations to ensure a successful event on the Thames.

Fleming and his expert team maintain a high degree of control over the display, with the ability to remove specific fireworks from certain locations if needed.

“Like everything, it’s experience and just having that knowledge of what can go wrong and planning for it and getting ourselves in the best position,” Fleming explained.

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The team has been monitoring wind conditions since a week before the event.

“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,” Fleming said.

The planning process has specifically accounted for wind challenges from the earliest design stages.

While technical adaptations have been carefully implemented to ensure the display’s safety in challenging conditions.

The team has already adjusted the angle of fireworks “slightly into the wind” to increase safety measures on tonight’s display.

“Ultimately, if the wind is strong enough that we feel that some of the debris might be falling beyond the safety zones, then we can just remove that,” Fleming explained.

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

And this year, the design process has specifically avoided using “massive big shells that have a high chance of being taken out of a show.”

Despite the technical challenges, Fleming is confident he can a complete New Year’s Eve spectacle for London.

The extensive safety measures and contingency planning have positioned the team to handle various weather scenarios.

However, the display director admits his nerves won’t settle until the event is complete.

“It won’t be until about eleven minutes past midnight on January 1 when I can relax and just have a bit of relief,” Fleming said.