Brits who were expecting a white Christmas could be in for a shock as the wet winter weather continues.
The UK has seen a wild swing in temperatures over the last week with an ‘extraordinary’ rise of almost 20 degrees celsius in just a few days.
Any snow that had fallen quickly turned to slush, with hopes for a snowy Christmas day dashed.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, with such a wide definition of what a white Christmas is, the last one in the UK was 2021.
Six percent of weather stations recorded snow falling in 2021, but only one percent reported any snow sticking to the ground.
Experts are now forecasting that Christmas day will most likely be mild with a risk of rain or showers in places for the south, especially the far south.
Any cold air and wintry conditions will most likely be confined to the north of the UK, they add, but caution that their predictions could change as Sunday is still five days away.
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Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, Dan Harris, said of the north-south split: ‘There are large uncertainties concerning where the boundary between these two air masses will eventually end up, especially as we head into the Christmas weekend.
‘Confidence in the forecast is unlikely to increase until mid-week at the earliest and a range of outcomes are still possible.’
From mid-week onwards, forecasters expect colder weather to arrive in the north, while the south hangs on to the mild conditions.
After Christmas and towards New Year, there could be overnight frosts and morning fog, before more changeable and milder conditions, say forecasters.
Warmer air from Madeira has quickly swept into the UK this week bringing an ‘extraordinary’ temperature rise after days of wintry conditions, according to an expert.
Dr Stephen Burt, a meteorology expert at the University of Reading, where temperatures changed from minus 5C last week to 12C on Monday, called it an ‘extraordinary rise’.
He explained how the sudden rise had been caused by a change in airmass after warmer air travelled rapidly north from Madeira.
He said: ‘Very mild and humid tropical maritime air from the region of Madeira transported quickly north and eastwards to our islands because of the development of a major North Atlantic depression over the past couple of days.’
‘The tropical airmass displaced a cold and dry northerly airflow which persisted over the British Isles for most of last week, and several clear nights allowed widespread severe frost to develop.’
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