The odds of a white Christmas have been slashed as this weekend’s heavy snowfall is expected to be followed by weeks of freezing conditions.

Swathes of England from the West Midlands to North Yorkshire were blanketed in snow on Sunday as Storm Arwen moved out, having covered parts of Scotland and the North East.

Sub-zero temperatures and further precipitation saw people waking up to settled snow as far south as Warwickshire, with flurries even seen in parts of Portsmouth on Sunday evening.

Yellow weather warnings for ice were in place for an area from the south coast up to Norwich and Newcastle as part of a Met Office cold weather alert that lasted until Monday.

While it’s too early for forecasters to model Christmas conditions, they expect ‘cold and frosty’ weather to stick around for at least two weeks.

Exacta Weather forecaster James Madden told The Mirror: ‘Snow on Christmas Day is more likely in the north of the country.

‘We can’t rule out festive snow anywhere.’

Bookmakers have slashed the odds of a white Christmas – which they class as at least one piece of snow falling on December 25 – across 12 major airports, which have top-end weather stations.

Leeds-Bradford, Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports are all at 3-1 on William Hill.

London City Airport is at 59-10, which means a 14.5% chance of snow in the capital.

The Met Office say the current weather patterns are part of an ‘Arctic shot’ moving south across the UK, which saw parts of the country experience the coldest night of the season so far.

The village of Shap in Cumbria recorded the lowest temperature this autumn with minus 8.7C.

Met forecaster Oli Claydon said the frost will subside on Monday before biting back towards the end of the week.

He said: ‘There is a bit of a warming trend through the day today.

‘The whole of the UK will turn milder. The places that will hold on to the cold air the longest will be in the south-east of the UK.

‘The low temperatures will return on Wednesday and Thursday night. However, I don’t think it will be quite as low as we have seen before.

Strong winds and rain are expected on Tuesday, giving way to blustery showers in the East and more snow across the North later in the week.

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