White Christmas: Will it snow where you live on Christmas Day?

If you live in the north of England and Scotland then the answer is ‘probably’

It’s the question that gets asked each and every year: will it be a white Christmas in the UK?

This year, the conditions might just be right for those who live in the north of England and in Scotland, but only around higher ground of 200 metres, in places such as the Pennines area or the Lincolnshire Wolds.

The Met Office said that Christmas Day will be cold, crisp and sunny up and down the country, with showers likely to turn wintery over higher ground in the north and Scotland, causing snow.

Red deer forage for food in Glenshee as snow hits much of Scotland (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

People can expect to wake up to a frosty start on Christmas morning as overnight temperatures will be around freezing, dropping as low as -3 degrees in rural areas, though it will become warmer throughout the day, reaching highs of 5 or 6 degrees in the north and 8 or 9 degrees in the south.

But unfortunately for those living in the south, snow at lower levels “looks unlikely”.

The Met Office spokesman stressed that as Christmas Day is still six days away, the forecast “could still change”. It is not possible to accurately forecast whether snow will fall on any given Christmas day until five days beforehand.

A severe weather warning has been issued for today through to Saturday morning across Central Scotland and the Strathclyde, Grampian and Highlands areas, causing hazardous driving conditions from icy patches and drifting of the lying snow from strong winds.

For the next two days the UK will be under a “colder air mass” seeing temperatures drop from the mild temperatures experiences recently to temperatures more common for December, reaching 5 or 6 degrees in the north and between 9 and 10 in the south.

The weather is expected to feel mild again between Sunday and Wednesday next week, but with added rain across the UK.