Forecast for white Christmas 'still a turkey dinner at the moment'

Despite forecasts of a white Christmas, the chance of Scotland being pummelled by snow this weekend is still up in the air.

STV meteorologist Sean Batty said while the forecast is a “complete turkey dinner at the moment”, he is leaning towards snowfall in “quite a few areas of the country”.

Largely unsettled weather ahead of the big day is expected to lead to colder and clearer conditions on December 25.

The Met Office said it expects to see some snow showers over the hills in northern parts of the UK, including the Midlands, northern England and Scotland.

‘The chances of a white Christmas have waxed and waned over the last few days, but welcome to the fickle world of forecasting.’
STV meteorologist Sean Batty

Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said: “It’s that boundary between the cold and the warm air which is where the uncertainty is, and that’s where the greatest risk of seeing any snow or sleet is.

“We’re expecting to see some snow in the lead-up to Christmas, but it is likely to be over high ground and if anything did fall at lower levels, we anticipate that to largely be quite sleety and to not last very long.”

In the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the Met Office expects more settled, dry, calm and cold weather.

Insight: STV meteorologist Sean Batty

Snow: STV meteorologist Sean Batty. STV News

The chances of a white Christmas have waxed and waned over the last few days – from a risk of heavy snow, to dry and sunny to milder with rain – but welcome to the fickle world of forecasting.

And it’s even worse when it’s a big day when most people have travel plans.

So, I reckon it’ll still be a few days until we get more confidence for Christmas Day, and that’s all because the UK is in what we call a battleground, as warm air clashes with cold air.

Scotland is currently in the cold air and in the next few days we’re going to see warmer air come in and have a showdown as it tries to shove the cold air away, however it looks like the colder air will eventually fight back.

As this tussle goes on, we’ll see rain along the boundary between the warm and cold air and this will be a messy mix of rain and snow.

The weather for most areas will turn wet on Wednesday with hill snow, but as the colder air starts to push back south on Christmas Eve we’ll see some of that turn to snow at low levels.

At this stage the thinking is we’ll be back to quieter, drier and colder conditions on Christmas Day, although some snow showers are possible.

So, while the forecast is a complete turkey dinner at the moment, I’d still say I’m leaning towards a white Christmas in quite a few areas of the country.

And remember, a white Christmas is just one single snowflake falling in the 24 hours of Christmas Day, and that could even be in amongst falling rain.