The weather is expected to remain mild and dry across much of the UK over Christmas
People across much of the UK should be safe to leave their winter layers and umbrellas at home on Christmas Day, as unseasonably mild weather continues.
The maximum temperature is forecast to be between 11C and 13C, which is lower than the warmest Christmas on record in 1920, when the temperature in Devon was 15.6C.
A blanket of cloud will greet early risers on Christmas morning, with the risk of rain across Britain’s Western and Northern Isles and the Highlands around the Great Glen.
Christmas Eve will be the hottest day of this year’s festive week with temperatures expected to reach 15C in north east Wales.
Rain can be expected in Scotland and Northern Ireland on 25 December but the rest of the UK is forecast to remain dry.
BBC Weather’s Lewis Lear said Boxing Day would be “almost a case of spotting the difference”.
The first signs of change will come late on Friday, Lear said, as north-westerly winds bring cold air across Scotland.
Christmas Day weather record
- the hottest It was Christmas Day in 1920 in Killerton, Devon, with temperatures reaching 15.6C
- moist 165.4 mm of rain fell at Capel Curig, Gwynedd in 2015
- fastest christmas wind A gust of 101 mph (162 km/h) was recorded in 2011 at Sela Ness, Shetland.
- and this the coldest Christmas was recorded in Gainsford, Durham, where a temperature of -18.2C was recorded in 1878.
