Sheffield set to be battered by SNOW - but will we have a White Christmas?

Weather warnings for wind have already been issued by the Met Office for Boxing Day but it is set to be dry, if not very cold, on Christmas Day.

A wet weekend is set to follow but rain and snow showers are now forecast for Monday and Tuesday.

Heavier snow is then set to fall on Saturday, January 2, and this could last all weekend.

Many parts of the UK have seen unsettled conditions in the days leading up to the festive period, with heavy rain falling across large swathes of the country on Wednesday.

This rain will largely stop on Christmas Eve, paving the way for cooler temperatures and frost on the morning of December 25.

Alex Burkill, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told the PA news agency: “Christmas Eve night into Christmas Day is going to be very cold, with harsh widespread frost first thing Christmas morning.

“So it could be a ‘white’ Christmas in as much as lots of people are going to wake up to a frost.”

“So in the Lincolnshire, Yorkshire area, maybe even East Anglia, there could be a few showers during the early hours and with the cold weather it’s not out of the question that there could be a wintery element to those, so a few showers could be falling as sleet or snow.

“They’ll be very light, scattered, not everywhere will see them by any means, and for most areas it’s going to be a pretty dry day just cold.

“But there is a chance we could see a few showers of snow across eastern parts of England, particularly early on Christmas day.”

Mr Burkill said a band of rain will push across northwestern parts during the day, particularly in Scotland, which could lead to sleet or snow on the higher ground.

The meteorologist later suggested small amounts of snow may settle on the hills and mountains in Scotland.

He added: “It could technically be a white Christmas there but what we can be pretty confident about is that there’s not going to be widespread snow, people aren’t going to wake up to those picturesque sheets of snow that many people will be hoping for.”