White Christmas: Edinburgh most likely city to see snow

Newcastle is available at 5/2 to see snow on December 25, but London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Dublin are the least likely cities at 8/1.

Snow has fallen on Christmas Day in the UK 38 times since 1969 and the last occasion was 2010, although the south has not seen the white stuff since 2004.

More than 2,500 people in Cumbria were without electricity on Sunday morning, as the county’s fire and rescue service said it worked through the night to rescue drivers from cars trapped in deep snow.

The Met Office said Saturday night (December 2) saw the coldest temperatures since last winter, with minus 12.5C recorded in Altnaharra in the Highland region of northern Scotland.

However, it was all change on Tuesday when the Environment Agency issued more than 60 flood warnings across England as heavy rain replaced snow as the nation’s major weather concern.

At 6am on Tuesday, 69 flood warnings – where flooding is expected – were in place, mainly in Dorset, Somerset and across the Midlands. There were a further 182 flood alerts, where flooding is considered possible.

The Met Office issued a yellow warning for rain for the north east coast of England until 9am on Tuesday with a further warning for ice across the extreme north of Scotland – where temperatures dipped as low as minus 10C overnight – until 11am.

Snow has continued to make life difficult in parts of the country with Cumbria Police saying they expected conditions to be “challenging” for the rest of the week, although the major incident declared in the area has been ended.

The Met Office said rain would ease across England and Wales with brighter spells later, but another cold day will see wintry showers in the north and north west.

Cloud will remain overnight in the south and south east with frost and some freezing fog forming by dawn.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said the risk of snow was lessening and would “more or less be confined to Scottish mountains” by the end of the week.

White Christmas odds

Edinburgh – 2/1
Newcastle – 5/2
Belfast – 3/1
Manchester – 5/1
Liverpool – 6/1
Birmingham – 8/1
Cardiff – 8/1
Dublin – 8/1
London – 8/1

View the latest White Christmas odds

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication