Hopes of a white Christmas in Scotland this year appear unlikely, according to early predictions from weather forecasters.
WXCharts’ early forecast has Scotland down for dry day on December 25 - with no snow anticipated in any part of the country.
But Scots appear to be in for a frosty morning, with large areas seeing temperatures struggle to get above 0C.
And the dry and freezing spell is expected across the country in the week leading up to the big day - with the last of the heavy rain showers before Christmas forecast to hit the country on December 14.
The Met Office’s long forecast comes to a similar conclusion, with “widespread settled conditions likely”.
Experts say that there is an increasing chance of frost and fog during clear spells for Christmas and towards New Year.
The odds on snow landing in Scotland in Christmas Day were recently shortened as Glasgow and Edinburgh were named 2-1 favourites for a white Christmas.
John Hill from bookmaker Coral said: “Those dreaming of a white Christmas an be very hopeful that they will see snow on Christmas Day this year according to our odds.
“The major Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow are most likely to have a white Christmas but we are also seeing strong support for Manchester and London in England.”
The last widespread White Christmas in the UK came in 2010, when snow is reported on the ground at 83 per cent of weather stations in the UK.
Forecasters are able to declare a white Christmas if ‘one snowflake is observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25 somewhere in the UK’.
Met Office experts can accurately forecast the likelihood of snow falling on Christmas Day up to five days beforehand.
Forecasters recently changed the definition of a white Christmas due to more people betting on the possibility.
A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “Traditionally we used to use a single location in the country to define a white Christmas, which was the Met Office building in London. However, with the increase in betting on where will see a white Christmas, the number of locations have increased and can now include sites such as Buckingham Palace, Belfast (Aldergrove Airport), Aberdeen (Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen FC), Edinburgh (Castle), Coronation Street in Manchester and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
“We also analyse the data from our observing stations around the UK to provide a complete picture of where snow has fallen or was lying on Christmas Day.”
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