Last-minute Christmas shopping will bring extra challenges for flustered Brits with a deluge heading our way inside hours.
The run up to December 25 is going to be tricky with some snow also set to hit as the festive build up turns chilly and wet again.
Interactive weather model WXCharts show a large band of rain moving in off the Atlantic from midnight tonight and lasting for a few days.
But hope of a white Christmas appears to be evaporating for millions.
Forecasters said it now looks unlikely that the south with see even a flake of snow on Sunday but there remains a chance in the north of England and in Scotland.
Temperatures could again dip to -2C north of the border soon as the freeze conditions return.
Unsettled weather is ahead with the rain likely to hang around on Christmas Day.
After some places saw temperatures edge towards a barmy 20C on Tuesday after warmer air arrived from the Atlantic, things are about to turn a little colder again.
Forecaster Nicola Maxey said: “It won’t be as cold but it will increase the likelihood of wintry showers going into the weekend.
“How far south that snow will fall is still uncertain.”
Jim Dale, senior meteorologist at British Weather Services, told Express.co.uk that precise conditions for Christmas Day and Boxing Day will grow more certain within the next 24 hours.
He said: "What we are looking for is consistency but for now that is the favoured outcome. It will affect northern areas generally, Wales and possibly the Midlands. It will not be a short shower, more likely sporadic and on and off."
The New Year has “potential for a more settled spell to bring overnight frosts and morning fog” as 2023 starts as this year is due to end.
The Met Office said there will be a north-south split come the festive weekend as the north can expect to see “wintry conditions”.
Down south it will be a little milder with rainfall, although forecasters admitted they were unsure exactly where the conditions will divide.
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Dan Harris confirmed: “From midweek we expect to see a split develop with colder weather arriving in the north, while the south hangs onto the mild conditions.
“There are, however, large uncertainties concerning where the boundary between these two air masses will eventually end up, especially as we head into the Christmas weekend.
“Uncertainty in the weather forecast details is not unusual at six to seven days out, and the current weather patterns are heightening those uncertainties.
“Confidence in the forecast is unlikely to increase until mid-week at the earliest and a range of outcomes are still possible.
“However, what we can say is that Christmas Day will most likely be mild with a risk of rain or showers in places for the south, especially the far south, while any cold air and wintry conditions will most likely be confined to the north of the UK.”
