A WHITE Christmas is possible for parts of Scotland this year as cold and bright weather is expected on December 25 and a Scottish city topping the betting odds.
Unsettled weather in the lead-up to Christmas is forecast to give way to colder, clearer conditions next Saturday, according to the Met Office.
Meteorologists are saying that snow showers are expected on higher ground with Scotland the most likely place to get a sprinkling of snow.
Foggy weather over the weekend will clear into Monday for a cloudy but bright day.
Skies will clear further into Tuesday, which, after a frosty start, will be bright and sunny, and is “likely to be the best day of the week”, Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said.
Wednesday will bring increasingly mild and unsettled weather.
While there is still a lot of uncertainty in the forecast for Thursday and Friday, areas north of Wales are likely to have cold and bright weather while those to the south will see milder temperatures, clouds and rain, the Met Office said.
Ms Shuttleworth said: “It’s that boundary between the cold and the warm air which is where the uncertainty is, and that’s where the greatest risk of seeing any snow or sleet is.
“We’re expecting to see some snow in the lead-up to Christmas, but it is likely to be over high ground and if anything did fall at lower levels, we anticipate that to largely be quite sleety and to not last very long.”
That is most likely across the Midlands, northern England and Scotland, the forecaster said.
Shuttleworth said: “We could see that colder weather push further south, so more areas seeing that colder, clearer weather by Christmas Day”.
In the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the Met Office expects more settled, dry, calm and cold weather.
Bookmaker Coral said that odds for a white Christmas have been slashed for all major UK cities, with Edinburgh topping the betting for the most likely to see snow and Newcastle just behind.
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