Snow and big freeze return to UK

 

Met Office issues severe weather warnings, with snow expected across western areas overnight

Get the latest UK weather forecasts

• Adam Gabbatt and agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 December 2010 10.25 GMT
• Article history



Snow is expected across Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of Wales and England, with the odds shortening on a white Christmas. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Snow and freezing temperatures are set to return to the UK within the next 48 hours, with bookmakers slashing the odds of a white Christmas.

The Met Office has issued its second most severe weather warning across Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of Wales and England, with snow expected in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

While it was mostly the east of the UK that had snow last week, the west is set to receive its share overnight, with as much as 20cm expected in some places.

"We have got early warnings out for Thursday and Friday," said Charles Powell, a forecaster for the Met Office.

"Whereas a couple of weeks ago the main risk was in the eastern part of the country, this time the western side is most at risk. We are fairly certain that the western side will see some snowfall."

Powell said the snow would be "quite significant" and could cause disruption. The Met Office has issued "be prepared" warnings across all of Scotland and Northern Ireland and much of west Wales, north-west and south-west England and the Midlands.

Clare Allen, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "London will be minus 4C and Northern Ireland minus 3C. Scotland may be down as much as minus 6C and on higher ground it could be as low as minus 10C."

Bookmakers slashing the odds of a white Christmas has become almost as much a part of the festivities as leaving out a mince pie for Santa, but 2010 has the "shortest white Christmas odds in history", according to William Hill.

Aberdeen is 5/6 favourite to see snow on the 25th, with Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle at 11/10. London and Liverpool are priced at 6/4.

Before rushing out to wager the heating allowance on the chance of a sprinkling, however, prospective gamblers would be well advised to follow the advice of Rupert Adams, William Hill spokesman.

"The definition of a white Christmas is for one flake of snow to fall over the 24-hour period of Christmas Day, confirmed by the Met Office. So snow already on the ground does not count as a white Christmas for bookies," he said.

A fact sheet published by the Met Office [pdf] shows that, statistically, snow on the 25th is rare in the UK: 22% of Belfast's Christmases between 1960 and 2009 were white, while Edinburgh has only had snow on 20% of its big days. In London just 12% of Christmases have been snowy, a figure that falls to 8% in Cardiff.