White Christmas Predicted as freezing temperatures forecast

Britain could be set for a White Christmas as temperatures are set to plummet to -16C, say forecasters.

Bookmakers have slashed the odds on a snowy Christmas Day, with Ladbrokes placing London at 7/1. Further north, the odds are as low as 5/2 in Aberdeen and 3/1 in Edinburgh, reports the Evening Standard.

Some weather forecasters believe Britain could be in for the coldest winter since the Big Freeze in December 2010, temperatures dropped to -21C.

The Metro reports that some weather experts have predicted 36 days of snow and ice.

The reason? Scientists say the melting of the Greenland ice sheet is to blame as it's slowing the Gulf Stream, pushing cold temperatures towards Britain.

The melting of the ice sheet is also to blame for some of the coldest Atlantic temperatures since records began 80 years ago.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Tyler Roys, meteorologist at AccuWeather, said: "We'll see full-on cold spells.

"Northern England faces colder-than-normal periods, some of which could affect southern England, and Scotland is forecast a colder than normal winter.

"Given recent past winters' minimum temperatures of -8C to -21C, lows of that level are possible this winter."

Meanwhile, a cold snap is already set to hit this week and weekend, and there could even be snow on high hills in northern England and Scotland.

Leon Brown, meteorologist at The Weather Channel, told Aol Travel: "The main feature of the outlook is a colder snap from this weekend and then could be rather cold next week too, although there is some uncertainty on how far south a colder Arctic flow will move.

"The north of the UK will certainly feel rather cold next week.

"There will be gales over the north on Thursday with 60mph gusts in Scotland and 50mph gusts in higher parts of northern England.

"Widespread ground frosts and local air frosts will occur on Friday morning.

"It will turn colder this weekend behind a cold front and showers will turn to snow over the Scottish Highlands above 500m.

"There may be more than 10cm across the higher mountains by Sunday and even a few centimetres of snow over the tops of the northern Pennines and Lake District Fells on Sunday."

-msn