Christmas Day and Boxing Day are set to be ‘exceptionally mild’ for the time of year with temperatures 10C above average in some areas, the Met Office revealed today.
Conditions will become settled and milder from Christmas Eve following a windswept weekend as northern England and Scotland are hit by 85mph gusts and heavy rain.
Meteorologists expect Christmas Day to be cloudy for most areas, but there may be clear or sunny spells for some eastern areas of the UK – especially eastern Scotland.
Drizzle could fall across hills in the West while North West Scotland may see some more persistent rain, but forecasters described it as a ‘fairly cloudy, nondescript day’.
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Rebekah Hicks said conditions on December 25 and 26 will be ‘exceptionally mild for the time of year, especially in the North’.
She added that eastern and north-eastern parts of Scotland could see surprisingly high overnight temperatures that are 10C above average on Christmas Day morning.
Met Office temperature maps forecast highs of between 10C (50F) and 12C (54F) at 3pm on Christmas Day across all of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In London, a forecast of 11C is 2.2C above average for December, while the 11C for Birmingham is 3.7C above normal. In Edinburgh, a 12C high is 4.7C above average.
A UK high of 12C on Christmas Day would make the country warmer than Rome at 11C and level with Madrid and Corfu, according to Met Office forecasts for those cities.
This Met Office map shows the temperatures currently forecast for 3pm on Christmas Day
Christmas shoppers walk along Regent Street in London’s West End this morning
Bookmaker William Hill is offering 7/1 that Britain will have its warmest ever Christmas Day – with the highest ever December 25 temperature set in 1920 at 15.6C (60.1F).
Ms Hicks said: ‘We’ll start to see high pressure to the south of the UK bringing in more settled and much milder conditions from Christmas Eve.
‘Christmas Day itself will be cloudy for most, although some eastern areas of the UK, most likely eastern Scotland, may see some clear or sunny spells.
‘We could see some drizzle across hills in the west, and some more persistent rain is possible for northwest Scotland but overall, it will be a fairy cloudy, nondescript day.
‘Conditions on Christmas Day and Boxing Day look to be exceptionally mild for the time of year, especially in the North. East and North East Scotland, for example, could see overnight temperatures that are 10C above average on Christmas morning.’
The Met Office said its research earlier this year had found the country’s favourite winter weather is ‘crisp blue skies’ and ‘snow on the ground’ – but this is ‘looking decidedly unlikely’ for Christmas 2024.
There could however be some snow on the hills in the North West of Scotland tomorrow evening, and then overnight and into Sunday – with the chance of wintry showers extending to Northern Ireland, southern Scotland and northern England.
Weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office as rain and disruptive winds of up to 85mph are expected to hit Christmas holiday drivers this weekend.
An area of low pressure will cross the far north of the UK tomorrow bringing rain and strong winds across large swathes of the UK, the forecaster said.
Yellow wind warnings have been released for the weekend, with one covering Scotland, much of Northern Ireland, north Wales and North West England between 7am and midnight tomorrow.
Another warning is in place between midnight and 9pm on Sunday, covering Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and all of western England.
Winds of up to 85mph could hit coastal areas across northern Scotland tomorrow afternoon and evening, with more widespread gusts of 50 to 60mph on Sunday.
Ms Hicks said: ‘This period of disruptive weather coincides with a busy period on UK roads as the festive getaway starts for many.
‘The area of low pressure will bring rain and strong winds on Saturday, with a chance of significant disruption especially to transport networks across the north, including the potential for ferry cancellations.
‘The strongest winds are expected across northern Scotland on Saturday afternoon and evening, with the potential for gusts of 80 to 85mph in coastal districts.
‘The strong winds will be more widespread on Sunday with gusts of 50-60 mph across much of northern, central and western UK, locally higher for coasts and across high ground.’
Last year, the Met Office said it observed the highest daily minimum temperature for Christmas Day on record.
Temperatures in Exeter Airport and East Malling, Kent, did not fall below 12.4C on December 25, 2023 – beating the previous record of 11.5C measured at Waddon in Croydon in 1983.
In terms of maximum temperatures, the mercury hit 13.6C at Exeter Airport and Merryfield in Somerset, which made it the warmest December 25 since 2016 when temperatures reached 15.1C.
It came after temperatures at London Heathrow Airport and Cippenham in Berkshire hit 15.3C on Christmas Eve last year, making that the warmest December 24 since 1997.
The highest-ever Christmas Eve temperatures of 15.5C were set in Aberdeen and Banff in Scotland in 1931.
William Hill spokesman Lee Phelps said today: ‘We’ve been closely monitoring temperatures throughout December and reckon there’s a good chance that the current record for the warmest ever Christmas Day will be surpassed next week.
‘Although evenings have felt that bit colder and wintry gusts have persisted, pressure is set to build around the festive period, so we’re a cautious 7/1 for the temperature to exceed 15.6C anywhere across the UK.’
Meanwhile drivers have been urged not to travel on major routes for six hours both today and tomorrow to avoid the worst Christmas holiday traffic.
The RAC and transport analytics company Inrix said roads are likely to be busiest between 1pm and 7pm on those days.
Hotspots where queues are expected include the M3 between its junction with the M25 and the south coast, the M25 anticlockwise between its junctions with the M1 and the M23, and the M53 from Chester to Liverpool.
