Issued: 0530hrs Christmas Day 2010
Duty forecaster: John Ejdowski

Spells of heavy snow central and eastern areas

Christmas Day
A cold but dry day for the United Kingdom. Some heavy snow is expected across the Alps today and this area of snow will extend across eastern parts of Germany into Poland. Bitterly cold again across Scandinavia with snow across Sweden and very heavy snow across southern Finland, The Baltic States and northern Russia. A dry day across Norway. Fine and dry as well across France and northern Iberia with light rain across southern Spain and a few showers around the Balearics. Expect some light rain across Italy today with rain and sleet across the former Yugoslavia. A wet day to come across Bulgaria and the Ukraine with a dry day across Romania and Turkey. A number of showers are forecast for Greece today. A few showers to come around the coasts of Belgium, Holland and Denmark but dry inland.

Boxing Day
The bitter cold continues across eastern Europe and Scandinavia today. Further snow will affect Sweden today and snow extends up into Norway, all of Russia, Poland the Baltic States, Hungary and into the former Yugoslavia. This snow will be heavy. Dry today across England and dry as well with sunny spells across France and the Low Countries with a few snow showers expected across Denmark. Lots of sunshine today across Portugal, Spain and the Balearics while outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow fall across Italy with rain expected across Greece. Continued dry across Turkey and Romania today with some sleet across Bulgaria. Just a few wintry showers to come across the Alps and northern Germany with southern Germany fair and dry but cold. Bitterly cold but dry and sunny weather will prevail across Norway.