UK experiences ‘remarkably mild’ weather ahead of Christmas Day

The UK is experiencing “remarkably mild” weather on Christmas Eve.

Although conditions today were forecast to be “grey and gloomy”, it will be the warmest day of the week, with highs of up to 15C in northeast Wales, according to the Met Office.

This is slightly lower than the warmest Christmas Eve on record – when a high of 15.6C was measured at Gordon Castle in Banff and in Craibstone, Aberdeenshire, in 1931.

Meanwhile, in the Midlands, northeast England and northeast Scotland, there may be some “brighter spells”.

On Christmas Day, temperatures are expected to dip slightly, with highs of 13C in Plymouth and strong winds of up to 50mph forecast in the north and northwest of Scotland.

The UK’s record highest temperature for Christmas Day is 15.6C, which was in Killerton, Devon, in 1920, according to Met Office data.

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The Met Office has also said that while it is not going to be a white Christmas in the UK, there will be heavy snow in higher parts of Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “It’s just going to stay cloudy, a lot of low cloud covering the hills of the west, misty around the coast, drizzle here and there, particularly for northwest England, and more especially in western Scotland – where the rain will be persistent through the rest of the day with a strengthening south-westerly wind.

“But with all of this cloud coming from the Atlantic, it is going to be a remarkably mild Christmas Eve.”