Christmas weather: Newcastle bookies' favourite to see white Christmas in England

Betting companies are taking odds on the liklihood of a White Christmas this year.

The Met Office long term forecast for the dig day is now out, and we have now seen the first snowfall of the winter.

The best odds come from cities north of the border, with Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh all listed as the most likelky cities to see snow on Christmas Day.

Heading back into England and Wales, Newcastle takes the top spot across the two countries with odds of 7/4 - the only city outside of Scotland to have this price.

Elsewhere there are odds of 7/2 for Leeds to see snowfall on Christmas Day while Manchester is currently priced at 5/1 alongside Liverpool.

On the other side fo the Irish Sea, Belfast is priced at 3/1, while back in England Cardiff and Birmingham have been given prices of 7/1.

What is the Christmas Day forecast for Newcastle?

The current long range Met Office forecast runs until Friday, December 27 and reads: “Across the south of the country, high pressure is signalled to be prevalent through the second half of December.

“Less settled weather is more likely at times though, especially across the north and west. This means wetter and windier spells are possible with a risk of some snow, especially across northern hills.

“These weather systems are expected to move fairly promptly, with settled spells developing between them, with settled conditions perhaps becoming UK-wide.

“As a result of these, frost and fog will be notably present where skies clear overnight. Temperatures generally close to average through the period, or slightly above in areas which are wet and windy.”