Tropical breezes from across the Atlantic means Britain won’t be shivering quite so hard on the run up to Christmas, with temperatures as mild as 12C predicted for some parts of the country.
An amber “be prepared” warning of snow has been issued by the Met office for parts of central and south west Scotland for Monday 19 December, but the rising mercury predicted over the next couple of days means a white Christmas is looking extremely unlikely.
Britons woke up to snowfall last week as frigid air swirled down from Greenland and the Arctic and some of the lowest temperatures this year were recorded.
During the weekend's freezing weather a hiker on Snowdonia plunged to his death after the snow he was walking on gave way, causing an avalanche.
Hikers had to be rescued in North Yorkshire on Saturday, after freezing temperatures meant they encountered difficulties, and two of the women became unwell.
However the weather is set to change almost overnight, as wind directions shift and Britons are treated to warmer westerly breezes.
The warmest Christmas on record was experienced in Devon, when 15.6C was chronicled in 1920.
This “walk in the park” Christmas weather will come as a welcome change from last year’s Christmas snowfall which caused widespread travel chaos.
The coldest December in a century, record lows for Christmas Day were recorded in Shawbury, Shropshire at -15.9C, while Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands set the UK record at -18.2C on 25 December 2010.