Will it be a White Christmas in Leeds?

But we can wait in hope as the last couple of days before the big day set in.

So are snowflakes likely to fall on December 25?

It’s not so farfetched.

The odds on such an occurrence at Leeds-Bradford, according to Ladbrokes, are 7/2.

That means that a betting person could bag themselves a little more than £100 by putting down a £22.25 punt.

Though a wiser person would do well to head north to Newcastle, where the odds are 3/1, or Aberdeen for a 2/1 chance, according to the business.

Across the Pennines, Manchester’s odds of a snowy Yuletide are 4/1.

But it’s more likely to be a windy Christmas than a white one, with forecasters warning of blustery conditions and rain for many parts of the country.

Met Office meteorologist Helen Chivers said: “For the big day itself, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland are likely to see some heavy and prolonged rain and there is still a possibility of a white Christmas for some northern areas of Scotland.

“But, for most of us, it’s largely going to be dry and breezy Christmas Day.”

The definition that the Met Office uses to define a white Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25 somewhere in the UK.

This has happened 38 times in the last 54 years – meaning we can probably expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be a white one.

There has only been a widespread covering of snow on the ground four times in the last 51 years.

The last widespread white Christmas in the UK was in 2010 – the highest amount on record, with 83 per cent of observation stations reporting snow on the ground.