Will it snow this Christmas and what is a White Christmas?

The Met Office can accurately forecast if snow is likely on any given Christmas Day up to five days beforehand.

But that doesn't mean we can't take a look at the odds for a White Christmas in 2025.

What are the odds for snow on Christmas Day?

According to the latest odds from William Hill, Aberdeen is the area most likely to experience snow on Christmas Day 2025, with odds of Evens.

This comes two year after parts of the country, including the Highlands and Aberdeenshire, experienced light snowfall in 2023, offering just a trace of a white Christmas. 

Historically, the region also boasts the record for the deepest snow ever recorded on Christmas Day, with Kindrogan in Perthshire measuring a staggering 47cm of snow in 1981. 

William Hill spokesperson Lee Phelps said: “With the UK hit by the first icy blast of the year and plenty of snowfall across the nation, there could be more to come as the festive season gets into full swing.

“We’ve shortened the odds of a White Christmas in a host of UK cities, with Aberdeen given a 46% chance of seeing snowfall on the 25th of December, having shortened into 6/5 from 5/4, while Edinburgh and Glasgow are both now 6/4 from 7/4.

“According to the odds (7/4 from 2/1), Newcastle has a 36% chance of a White Christmas, a fair way ahead of the next English city in the betting, Leeds at 3/1, while snow in the capital on Christmas Day is a 7/1 chance.

“With the weather unseasonably mild and only 10 days to go to the big day, the chances of a White Christmas seem to be receding.

“After a cold snap at the end of November we were 9/2 (18% chance) about Nottingham seeing snowfall on Christmas Day, but that’s now drifted out to 7/1 (12.5% chance) and the wait for the first Nottingham White Christmas since 1968 could go on another year.

“Nottingham’s chance of a White Christmas is thought to be much less than other English cities including Newcastle (7/4), Manchester (2/1) and Birmingham (5/1), with Southampton given the same chance as the Midlands city.”

Met Office White Christmas explanation

The definition that the Met Office uses to define a white Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 December somewhere in the UK.

The forecasters explained: "Traditionally we used to use a single location in the country to define a white Christmas, which was the Met Office building in London.

"However, with the increase in betting on where will see a white Christmas, the number of locations have increased and can now include sites such as Buckingham Palace, Belfast (Aldergrove Airport), Aberdeen (Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen FC), Edinburgh (Castle), Coronation Street in Manchester and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

"We also analyse the data from our observing stations around the UK to provide a complete picture of where snow has fallen or was lying on Christmas Day."

When was the last white Christmas?

The Met Office said: "Technically, 2023 was the last white Christmas in the UK with 11% of stations recording snow falling, although none reported any snow lying on the ground.

"Before that, 2022 saw 9% of weather stations recording falling snow, but none with any snow settling. 2021 and 2020 were also technically white Christmases, both with 6% of weather stations recording snow falling, but in these years, less than 1% of stations reported any snow lying on the ground in 2021 and only 4% in 2020."