White Christmas odds slashed

Bookies have cut the odds on a white Christmas.

Ladbrokes now make it 4/5 that snow will fall on Christmas Day.

Aberdeen is the favoured city with odds of 7/4. But hats and scarves will be needed before the festive season as forecasters warned yesterday that the mercury was set to plunge to as low as minus 7C (19.4F) in parts of Scotland overnight.

Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said yesterday: “Tonight could be the coldest night of the autumn so far.”