Six days to go for Christmas - Whoooopeedoo - the Scandinavian high is back! Things looked 100% green and mild yesterday. But the situation has changed al ittle and chances for snow on Christmas Day have substantially increased to up to 20% for SE England, the northeast and Northern Ireland. At least until the next 'model run'.

The current situation (confidence moderate to poor: 20 to 25%)

Scotland: snowing on Monday and Christmas Eve, turning towards rain and sleet near coasts but mainly dry on Christmas Day. England and Wales: Snow and sleet on Christmas Eve on higher grounds pushing further south and rain turning to snow across the lowlands overnight. Christmas Day snowing in the south and far south. Drier later Northern Ireland: Patches of snow and wintry showers on higher ground for Christmas day and Christmas Eve. Ireland: Mostly rain, snow or sleet over hills possible.

Again, beware !! The models still might slip back to green. However, there's one thing that is giving headaches to even the latest weather models: cold winter anticyclones. The model was already 'messing around' yesterday, when we stated:

Okay, at least a tiny little bit of good news. There's a 'jump' in the model on Sunday the 22nd. This might be a faint hint, that there still is something going on.

The Return of The Scandi High

Well, here we go with a sort of ideal textbook situation. Confidence is still only moderate to poor, but high pressure seems to build up across Scandinavia. This would mean a cold easterly to northeasterly airflow, initially dry, but picking up moisture while coming across North Sea. This would hit into much milder moist air from south-west. And this would mean snow, snow, snow (!) for the regions where the airmass-boundary would develop. Now, guess what. The last model run is foreseeing an airmass-boundary right across Britain.

So chances for snow are back again and especially the next model runs will be very interesting.

Stay tuned for tomorrows edition of WeatherOnline's white Christmas countdown.

If you have any questions concerning white Christmas: mail us !