Cold wintry conditions will continue into the weekend, before milder and wetter weather sweeps in bringing at least a temporary reprieve at the start of next week. But what are the main forecasters now predicting for the Christmas weekend?
If you are looking for snow, you might be "unlucky" this year as there is not likely to be much snow around in the UK, according to the BBC Weather long range forecast.
In the meantime, the UK will remain cold through rest of this week and into the weekend with the risk of sleet and snow at times continuing mainly across northern areas. A yellow warning for snow and ice has also been issued for a large part of Wales on Sunday. More details about that here.
Sunday will see the start of a marked change in weather type. It will remain unsettled into next week, perhaps with a trend down in temperatures once again, although not as cold as we are currently experiencing. Strong winds could prove disruptive at times in the first half of the week.
Looking forward to the Christmas weekend, the Met Office says for Tuesday, December 20, to Thursday, December 29 says: "Temperatures will be near normal to mild. The weather will likely continue to be mainly unsettled with showers or some longer spells of rain, most frequent in the north and northwest.
"These may occasionally fall as snow, over higher ground in the south, but possibly reaching low levels in the north. It will probably continue to be windy with the possibility of gales in the north. The temperature will turn colder again, feeling chilly in the strong winds."
Over at BBC Weather service, the long range forecast says that "wet and windy weather" will continue early next week, then temperatures will dip again. The current levels of cold are not expected to return, but by Wednesday there will be chillier northwesterly winds setting in, bringing wintry showers, especially across Scotland.
The forecast adds: "The end of next week (Christmas Eve) and the following week should have bands of rain moving across the UK, along with occasional hill-snow in northern areas. There's currently low confidence in the forecast for New Year with model guidance diverging. The most likely scenario is high pressure building from Greenland to Scandinavia, risking a return to colder conditions with below-average temperatures."
The further details about December 25 says: "Those further south looking for Christmas Day snow might be unlucky this year. However, there is a lot of uncertainty for the end of the week, with one forecasting model positioning high pressure closer to the UK and pulling much colder air across. Although this is not the evolution we are currently favouring, it could bring a chance of flurries elsewhere."
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