UK snow forecast: Will there be a white Christmas in Sussex?

The weather experts said, on Monday afternoon (December 18), that it is 'likely' the white stuff will arrive in the north of the country, but this did not result in widespread snow.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, Helen Caughey, said: “As we begin Christmas Day, wintry showers initially feeding in across the north in the colder air mass would technically make it a white Christmas, as we only need to see a single flake falling. Elsewhere, while it is likely at first to be mostly dry there is the potential for rain approaching from the west later on.

"As this moves east, we may see rain turning to snow, at least over high ground. It’s unlikely that we will see widespread or settling snow giving any proper accumulations.

"Although technically it might be a white Christmas, don’t get your hopes up for a picture-perfect white landscape.”

The Met Office said the Christmas period is ‘most likely’ to start with a colder, showery, northerly airflow in situ across much of the country – ‘perhaps with the exception’ of the far south – ‘bringing some snowfall, mainly across hills in the north’.

A spokesperson added: “This interlude likely to be short-lived, before a milder, westerly flow returns, which may lead to a risk of some transient snow to lower levels for a time. A continuation of this pattern most probable towards New Year's Eve, with the majority of cloud and rain likely across the west, and drier, brighter conditions more probable in the east.”

The Met Office has forecast a ‘wet and very windy build up to Christmas’. A danger to life warning comes into force on Thursday (December 21) – for Norfolk up to the northern-most point of Scotland.

A yellow warning, meanwhile, covers Northern Ireland, Northern England and the north of Wales. Sussex, and the South East region, is currently unaffected by these warnings.

However, four flood alerts are in place across Sussex amid 'above average rainfall'. As much as 15mm of rain is forecast on Tuesday ‘but then no rain to Sunday’.

The Environment Agency has warned that ‘flooding is possible’ and residents should ‘be prepared’ in the Chichester, Bognor Regis and Brighton areas. People with pumps to ‘help reduce groundwater levels’ in your property are advised to ‘ensure they are operational’.