THE decorations are coming out of the loft, Sellotape is on every surface, and children are finding it harder and harder to sleep.

Yep, Christmas is definitely coming.

And as December progresses, our thoughts inevitably turn to weather we could, finally, be in for a white Christmas.

However, while it may feel like it’s been years since we enjoyed a white Christmas, officially, 2022 was indeed handed that label.

That’s because snow was detected as falling at at least one of the Met Office’s weather stations – including at Buckingham Palace in London, Belfast (Aldergrove Airport), Aberdeen (Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen FC), Edinburgh (Castle), Coronation Street in Manchester and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

It doesn’t have to settle in order for it to be declared a white Christmas in the UK, just fall – and that was the case in 2022.

In 2020 and 2021, it was also a white Christmas, but not in 2018 or 2019.

But we all know that a true white Christmas would see us waking up to snow-covered gardens and building snowmen with the children after breakfast.

The last time that might have been possible in the UK was in 2010, when 83% of Met Office stations reported ‘snow on the ground’.

Could we all get a fairy-tale vista on Christmas Day 2023?

Could Christmas 2023 buck the trend?

Well, currently, it looks unlikely, according to Met Office forecaster Paul Gunderson.

“The high pressure will draw up warmer air from the south west and as we go into the coming weekend, we will see milder conditions by both day and by night for all,” he said this week.

“The Foehn effect could result in particularly mild conditions for areas such as east Scotland.

“It looks like this pattern will last into the first half of next week, meaning the mild conditions will continue with some outbreaks of rain likely at times, mostly across the north and the north west.”

Is there a chance things could change next week though?

“Later next week, and the days running up to Christmas, there are some suggestions that the jet stream will drift further south, allowing conditions to turn more widely unsettled,” Paul went on.

“There is also a chance of winds switching to more of a northwesterly direction, allowing conditions to become a little colder, with a risk of some wintry showers developing in the north.

“(But) at this stage, there is very little sign of any widespread or severe cold and wintry weather.”

So it looks unlikely we will have that fairy-tale snowfall this Christmas. But you never know…