Ladbrokes odds point to a warm not white Christmas this year

If you want sun and warmth at Christmas then you generally have to head to Australia – but this year the people of Britain may be able to leave their horrible Christmas jumpers in the wrapping as punters pile the cash on a warm December 25.

It doesn’t look like being hot enough for barbeques on the beach, but the Ladbrokes odds suggest it could be the warmest Christmas Day in Britain since 1920.

A high of 15.6′ was set in Devon that day and the current odds on that temperature being surpassed have been slashed from 20/1 to 6/1 as punters predict an unseasonably warm day.

Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: “Weather punters have gone from one extreme to another. The money now says that we’ll be in for the mildest Christmas ever.”

While the Christmas weather bets have traditionally been to back snow on Christmas Day, Ladbrokes are now offering odds on there to be no snow on the day.

London looks set to escape a flurry and the capital is currently 1/20 to avoid snow at both Big Ben and the Olympic Stadium, while snow at both sites can be backed at 7/1.

Meanwhile, Lerwick Shetland in Scotland is deemed the most likely to get a dusting, with the island just 1/5 to avoid snow and 3/1 to be enjoying a white Christmas.

Alex Donohue added: “We’ve taken thousands of bets on both outcomes so we must be the only people in the country hoping for neither snow or sunshine on the big day.”