YOU BET IT’S A WHITE XMAS

Snow joke for fearful bookies

BOOKIES are facing up to the chilling possibility of a White Christmas.

The Met Office has warned the UK is about to be plunged into the icy grip of La Niña – which could bring freezing temperatures for weeks.

Britain’s last snowy Christmas Day was in 2010, when another La Niña struck, blowing cold winds all the way from the Pacific.

And William Hill reports it has already taken a record amount of early bets for snow.

Spokesman Rupert Adams said: “We are starting to feel the chill as a White Christmas could cost the industry a six, possibly sevenfigure payout.”

Bookmakers have made it oddson that snow will fall somewhere across Britain, with Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh pegged as the early favourites.

Ladbrokes has posted odds of 5/6 it will be a white out.

Jessica Bridge, from the firm, said: “There’s no need for punters to dream of a white Christmas, as the odds suggest Blighty will wake up to a blanket of snow this year.”

Officials judge it to be a white Christmas if even just one snowflake is seen to fall in the 24 hours of December 25.

The Weather

Outlook said they calculated a 16% chance of snow north of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Parts of Britain could today see the mercury plummet to an icy -8C, due to Arctic winds blowing a big freeze down south.

Met office forecaster Emma Sharples said: “We have had some chilly weather over the last couple of weekends but this weekend will see two nights of sustained cold.

“On Sunday, the rain will have cleared the south and temperatures will drop and get close to freezing across the country.

“Some northern places could see temperatures into freezing three nights in a row this weekend. Sunday into Monday will be the coldest night of autumn so far and it will be a cold frosty start to Monday.” The Met Office can only reliably forecast snow five days in advance. But it added there is a good chance of snow falling somewhere in the UK on Christmas Day. The weather service said: “In terms of the statistical likelihood of snow based on climatology, we can probably expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be white. However, there has only been a widespread covering of snow four times in the last 51 years.”