Britain unlikely to see a white Christmas, says Met Office

A white Christmas is looking unlikely, according to forecasters who predict 2016 will end with a spell of unsettled but mild weather.

The festive season will probably come and go without a fall of snow, while daytime temperatures are expected to stay above freezing.

As December 25 approaches, people across the UK should expect wetter and windier conditions, but are unlikely to need a sleigh.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "It's relatively a long distance away still, so obviously there's a fair amount of uncertainty. But it's looking like it will probably be relatively mild, so unlikely to see much of a white Christmas."

He said there may be local variations, with the possibility of snow on the mountains in Scotland, and that while overnight temperatures could drop below freezing in some places, it will remain mild during the day.

The Met Office outlook for the next six to 30 days in the UK suggests that Friday will start with local frost and some patchy fog in the south, but it will turn unsettled from the west through the day.

"This will herald a changeable and at times very unsettled spell of weather as we move through the Christmas period and towards New Year.

"A succession of deep Atlantic depressions will bring bands of heavy rain east across all parts, although sheltered eastern and south-eastern areas should see some reasonable drier interludes too.

"Winds will often be strong, with periods of gales, and the potential for some stormy conditions at times in the north-west," the Met Office website says.

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