Christmas weather in Britain to be wet and windy

Showers and blustery gales are on the cards for most of the country as Britons sit down to their Christmas dinner next week.

A European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model shows very low pressure over the UK on December 25.

Forecasters remain cautious but admit the trends suggest a stormy festive holiday.

Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said: “Christmas Day is still a long way off meteorologically speaking, but computer models are hinting that the unsettled theme will continue.”

“Some computer models show a deep area of low pressure moving in from the Atlantic on Christmas Day, bringing very wet and windy conditions.”

“There’s still time for that to change though, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the forecast this week.”

“The unsettled conditions will mean that temperatures will remain around or above average, therefore snow is looking very unlikely at this point.”

Forecasters MeteoGroup tweeted maps indicating low pressure and fairly mild temperatures for the time of year, while the ECMWF map was put out by MetDesk.

Michael Dukes, MetDesk Director of Forecasting said: “It looks very much like it won’t be a white Christmas for most of us, with the possible exception of northern hills and mountains.”

“It’s still a little too far off for much in the way of detail, but current indications are that the Christmas period will very unsettled and often wet/stormy with the risk of high winds as our weather continues to sweep in from the Atlantic.”

“Temperatures will be mostly above average for the time of year, but it may be cold enough at times for some wet snow over northern hills and mountains.”

“We are watching that risk of high winds with interest, but we won’t be sure if it’s actually going to happen or how bad it will be until five or six days out.”

Heavy rain in the days before Christmas last year caused severe flooding in some areas.

Tags: christmas day, Christmas weather, low pressure