Edinburgh Christmas: Edinburgh has a 25% chance of snow this Christmas, says expert meteorologist

Edinburgh has a one in four chance of a White Christmas, a global meteorologist says.

There is a 25 per cent chance that it will snow on Christmas Day this year in the Capital, according to a prediction by Jim Dale, founder of British Weather Services. He also revealed that Edinburgh has a 40 per cent likelihood of experiencing a white winter this year, as forecasts show locals could see snow as early as November.

Some parts of the UK are considerably more likely to experience a snowy Christmas than others, with the Highlands and Grampian regions expected to see the most snowfall generally in 2022. Whilst Highland destinations Skye, Inverness and Glencoe are amongst the most likely to see snow this winter, Cornwall is the least likely, averaging just 7.4 days of snow each year.

However, there only needs to be a single snowflake falling within 24 hours of December 25 at one of the 13 major airports in the UK for the day to be classed as a White Christmas.

Could there be a white Christmas in Edinburgh this year? (Getty Images)

Edinburgh could see snow soon if temperatures are low enough, with the heaviest snowfall occurring when the air temperature is between 0-2°C. This could occur in the next few weeks, as a chilly ‘polar air’ blast has already started hitting the UK, causing the Met Office to forecast snow for some areas. This predicted cold snap could see snowflakes starting to fall in the next few weeks.

When asked when else we can expect to see snow, Jim Dale said: “As the angle of the Earth tilts away from the Sun it often bodes well for a concerted drop in temperatures, particularly if we experience majority winds from the northerly quarter. That’s important for the Christmas period because unless we end up in a 2009-10 deep winter scenario most snow events tend to come in the form of stop/start showers, with northern parts of the U.K. almost always most at risk.”

In 2010, Edinburgh saw its coldest winter to date with lows of -14°C and heavy snow. Meanwhile, the snowiest winter of the twentieth century in the UK was 1947, when between 22 January and 17 March, snow fell every day somewhere in the country.