Early signs point to snow being unlikely across the UK over the Christmas period, the Met Office says.
Whilst snow blanketed swathes of the country last week, with wintry showers even falling in London, temperatures are now expected to climb over late November with bouts of heavy rain at times.
Temperatures in London are expected to reach a high of 13C on Thursday and Friday.
During the recent cold snap, bookmakers cut their odds of a White Christmas.
William Hill offered 6/5 on snow falling in Aberdeen on December 25, with 6/4 available for both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Newcastle led the charge as England’s most likely city to see snow on December 25, priced at 7/4.
But those dreaming of snow in milder London faced longer odds – 7/1 for a chance of festive flakes.
The Met Office has now released its long-range forecast covering up to Tuesday, December 23 - with no mention of snow anywhere in the UK.
This outlook is anticipated to extend through that week, including Christmas Day itself.
However, the odds may still change with the weather service expected to issue an updated long-range forecast later in the week.
For a Christmas to be officially considered 'white', just a single snowflake has to be recorded falling at any point during the 24 hours of 25 December at any of the Met Office's 300 observing stations.
The last time the UK saw a widespread white Christmas was back in 2010, when snow fell at 19% of weather stations, and very unusually, 83% of stations reported snow lying on the ground.
Since 2020, every year except 2024 has officially been a white Christmas. However, in each of these years, very few places reported any snow actually settling on the ground.
