Edinburgh's Hogmanay organiser Unique Assembly has announced that the festival's main outdoor events have been cancelled due to public safety concerns over the bad weather.
Around 55,000 revellers had been expected to converge on Edinburgh city centre for the New Year celebrations.
"Due to ongoing high winds and inclement weather in Edinburgh city centre, we regret to announce that outdoor events scheduled for tonight (30th Dec) and the 31st December are unable to go ahead on the grounds of public safety," said festival organisers.
The cancellation includes tonight's Night Afore Disco Party in West Princes Street Gardens, and on the 31st December, the Edinburgh's Hogmanay Street Party, Concert in the Gardens, and the Midnight Moment fireworks.
Indoor events are not affected.
"We have unfortunately been unable to continue with preparations and necessary set-up for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay outdoor events due to extreme weather and forecast conditions. Therefore, for safety reasons we, along with our event partners, have taken the difficult decision to cancel all outdoor events," organisers said in a statement.
They added: "We know that this will be hugely disappointing to all hoping to celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh and that people travel from around the world to be here at the Home of Hogmanay. Customer Service from point of purchase will be in touch with ticketholders directly with further instructions regarding refunds in due course."
The announcement was made shortly before the Night Afore Disco Party was due to start on the temporary stage in Princes Street Gardens.
The decision comes on the heels of last night's cancellation of the Torchlight Procession, the Hogmanay festival's opening event. Organisers had hoped that the weather would ease in time for the big events in Princes Street Gardens and the Street Party arena to go ahead.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay main events on 31st December have been cancelled twice in the past shortly before they were due to take place, in 2003-2004 and in 2006-2007, due to strong winds.
The statement reiterated that indoor events will continue as planned:
"All indoor events are taking place as planned throughout the festival, including tonight’s performance of Swamplesque at Assembly Hall, the sold-out Idlewild concert at the Assembly Rooms, and on the 31st December, the Bairns New Year Revels and New Year Revels at the Assembly Rooms, and sold-out Candlelit Concert at St. Giles' Cathedral.
We also continue to look forward to the packed First Footin' and Sprogmanay programme of events on New Year’s Day – a series of free and ticketed indoor music gigs across the city centre, Leith and Portobello."