Weatherman predicts white Christmas

Parts of Britain could have a white Christmas, forecasters said yesterday as the country braced itself for icy weather and snowfalls this week.

Temperatures could fall as low as minus two Celsius tomorrow night in parts of England and Wales.

Parts of central and southern England could experience their coldest temperatures of the winter on Wednesday morning with a low possibly of minus five Celsius in some areas, according to Paul Knightley, forecaster at MeteoGroup UK.

He said a bitterly cold wind will move over the country on Thursday bringing snow showers to eastern parts of England and Scotland.

"There could be a situation where parts of east coast could get quite a few centimetres of snow," he added.

He added that there was a chance that snow could fall across central and southern England and Wales through Sunday to the start of the Christmas week.

It was "not out of the question" that parts of the UK could see a white Christmas with either snow on the ground, or snow falling on Christmas Day.

But he warned that this possibility was "probably less likely than likely".

"I think at the start of next week there is a reasonable chance of some significant snow in parts of the country," he said.

"I think some parts of the country will see some snow at least in the run up to Christmas.

"It becomes relatively uncertain as we go into the weekend and next week and it is a quite complex situation," he said.

"People who are travelling for Christmas should keep a close eye on the forecast."