SURREY'S weather expert, Ian Currie, has today issued his weather forecast for Christmas.
Rather than being a white Christmas, he is dreaming of a green one.
Between now and December 25, the temperature day by day will continue to fluctuate between mild and rather cold, he said.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday will see the temperature rise to as much as 13C (55F)as very mild air from the south is drawn across the south east of England. On Friday and Saturday it will cool down again.
This pattern will continue over Christmas.
"There is a quite a chance that Christmas Day will be in the colder air before it warms up a day or two later. It is unlikely that there will be any snow in the south but Scotland may have some," said Mr Currie, who is author of the book, "Frosts, Freezes and Fairs", chronicling 1,000 years of England's severe winters.
When Mr Currie spoke to the Reigate Family History Group last month, he said his gut feeling was that any period of cold and snow this winter will not be until February.
On Saturday morning, Mr Currie recorded a temperature of -6.7C in Chipstead Valley, between Kingswood and Coulsdon.
"It looks like this was the lowest temperature recorded in the UK that night," he said.
"This was also the lowest temperature in the Chipstead Valley this year."
This morning (Tuesday)in the small hours the temperature at Gatwick Airport and Charlwood dipped to -2C and visibility was down to 800 yards, prompting the airport to issue low visibility procedures for pilots.
