Met Office white Christmas weather forecast 2025 - cold weather forecast as temperatures fall

The countdown is well and truly on with just three more sleeps until Christmas Day, and as always at this time of year, people want to know if a white Christmas is on the cards. Temperatures are predicted to fall over the coming days, according to the Met Office’s latest forecast, but is snow also on the way?

Following lots of wet weather in recent weeks, the national weather service is expecting conditions to become more settled as high pressure dominates. Earlier in the week, some areas will continue to experience unsettled weather due to low pressure, with rain affecting Scotland and Northern Ireland on Monday morning.

Elsewhere on Monday (December 22), cloud is expected to gradually lift, leaving behind a brighter afternoon, “although a few showers remain possible in Cornwall,” says the weather experts. For most areas on Tuesday (December 23) it will be cloudy with easterly winds “slowly strengthening and making it feel colder for many”.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day weather forecast

Temperatures are expected to fall as high pressure brings drier, more settled conditions to the UK so it will be feeling somewhat colder, especially with the addition of chilly easterly winds.

Christmas Day is expected to be mostly dry with variable amounts of cloud and sunny spells in places, along with the possibility of a few light showers, particularly along southwestern coasts later in the day. Daytime temperatures could fall as low as 2°C but will feel even colder in that strong easterly breeze.

Paul Gundersen, Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “The question we get most at this time of year is about the chance of snow on Christmas Day. There’s a small chance of light showers, which, if they occur, will be a mix of rain, sleet and some snow over higher ground. The chance is relatively low as it stands, and there are no strong signals for significant or widespread snowfall.

"As always, we advise everyone to keep up to date with the latest Met Office forecasts and warnings, especially if you’re making plans over the festive period.”

What is a white Christmas?

While for most people it’s not really a white Christmas without at least a small covering of snow on Christmas Day, the Met Office rules are not quite so strict. The weather service only needs to observe a single snowflake falling at some point on December 25 for them to declare a ‘white Christmas’.

The snowflake must be witnessed by either an official Met Office observer or by a Met Office automated weather station within the 24 hours of Christmas Day. For anyone who has placed a bet on a white Christmas 2025, this is how the bookies decide on whether to pay out or not.