Start dreaming of a white (hot) Christmas Day

IF you are getting in the festive spirit by dreaming of a white Christmas, then it’s probably best to look away now.

Because this year’s Christmas Day could be the warmest ever.

Bookmakers have slashed the odds on a record high temperature on December 25 from 16/1 to only 8/1.

Experts predict the UK could soon surpass its mildest December day – the record for which remains the 18.3C (65F) set at Achnashellach, Ross-shire, on December 2, 1948.

Although this month got off to an icy start – with places such as Aviemore, Inverness-shire – shivering in an icy -9C (16F) last week – the cold snap didn’t last long and most of December has been warmer than usual.

The mild weather is also playing havoc with nature. Many hedgehogs have been tricked into thinking it is the spring mating season, with more than 300 babies handed to a sanctuary in Rochdale, Lancashire, months early.

Experts at Nasa claim that global temperatures for 2016 are likely to be the hottest since records began in the 1950s.

The latest balmy spell is down to south-westerly winds dragging in warm air from the Atlantic.

Met Office forecaster Robin Steele said: ‘It’s going to be a fairly benign spell ahead, probably a bit milder than we would expect at this time of December. There will be lots of cloud and it won’t be particularly wet, although there will be a shower here and there at times.

‘The weather is coming in from the south and south-west which is why it is a bit milder and there is a reasonable indication that it will be settled for the week.’

Forecasters said daytime temperatures are likely to get back to normal this week, hovering around a maximum of 10C (50F) in Scotland and falling to an average of 4C (39F) overnight.

The norm for this time of year is around 5.5C (41F) in Scotland. Julian Mayes, forecaster with Meteogroup, said: ‘The temperatures won’t be anything like those we had a few days ago, nor will they be very cold like those we had the week before. It will feel a little milder than normal.

‘Temperatures at night will be mild and the risk of frost will be subdued.’ William Hill makes a white Christmas 3/1 odds in Scotland. The last widespread white Christmas in the UK was in 2010.

Last week, Aviemore witnessed a 21C increase in temperature in the space of 24 hours, from -9C (16F) on Tuesday morning to 12C (54F) on Wednesday. Lossiemouth in Moray was the hottest part of the UK at 16.3C (61F) – warmer than the North African city of Algiers.