Forget white Christmas and prepare for a grey one across the North West

Any hopes for a white Christmas in the North West of England are being dashed, as the Met Office forecasts mild and "notably high temperatures" over the festive period.

Unfortunately, that's unlikely to mean much sunshine. Alex Burkill is a meteorologist at the Met Office: "We could even see record breaking mild temperatures. Even though there could be a bit of drizzly rain around parts of the North West, I'm not expecting any sleet or snow. In fact, anywhere in the UK it's looking pretty unlikely that we'll see even a flake of snow.

"Instead of it being a white Christmas, I think it's fair to say it's going to be quite a grey one. There will be a lot of cloud around and some rain. It won't be especially heavy rain, but it will be quite drizzly, light rain, so quite damp. A lot of dry weather at times but generally quite damp.

"I think the big talking point will be how mild it's going to be; temperatures in double figures in many places. It's not usual for us to see these types of temperatures around Christmas."

The prediction comes as the Christmas getaway period nears its end.

AA president Edmund King said the UK's roads have "coped relatively well with the traffic".

He went on: "With Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, drivers have already had four different days to travel.

"Most journeys have been relatively short, and the majority have been under 50 miles.

The AA is forecasting there will be around 21.6 million drivers on the road on Christmas Eve.