The Met Office has weighed in after maps suggested an Arctic freeze will envelop the UK after Christmas this year.
Weather maps have shown a dramatic drop in temperatures later this month, with a potential -10C chilly spell on the horizon for northern England and Scotland.
Snow is also tipped to follow, with possible pileups over high ground creating a late white Christmas.
If they prove accurate, the maps show an unseasonable forecast, even for late December, with the last two weeks having proven comparatively mild.
But the Met Office has warned the Christmas and New Year forecasts are by no means set in stone.
READ MORE: New seven day weather maps show UK bombarded with walls of snow
Maps from WXCharts covering the next two weeks have shown snow and rain building under quickly lowering temperatures, with Christmas Eve appearing particularly cold.
Minimum temperatures could drop as low as -10C and -11C in Scotland on December 24, with lows between -4C and 0C in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and several inches of snow in the far north.
While the temperatures seem dramatic, December 24 is too far ahead on the forecast track for meteorologists to draw concrete conclusions about the weather in late December.
A Met Office spokesman told Express.co.uk the agency cannot forecast the weather for Christmas Day “in any detail”, “let alone any further ahead”.
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While Christmas and the following days are too tricky to reliably forecast, the agency has released its predictions for the week preceding the big day.
The meteorologists expect milder weather will dominate in the days before December 25, with drier conditions replacing widespread rain as the jet stream moves north.
High pressure will mean that conditions shift for most of the UK by the end of the day on Wednesday, December 20.
Paul Gundersen, the Met Office Chief Forecaster, said: โThe high pressure will draw up warmer air from the southwest and as we go into the coming weekend, we will see milder conditions by both day and by night for all.
“The Foehn effect could result in particularly mild conditions for areas such as east Scotland.
โIt looks like this pattern will last into the first half of next week meaning the mild conditions will continue with some outbreaks of rain likely at times, mostly across the north and the northwest.
โLater next week and the days running up to Christmas there are some suggestions that the jet stream will drift further south, allowing conditions to turn more widely unsettled.
“There is also a chance of winds switching to more of a northwesterly direction, allowing conditions to become a little colder, with a risk of some wintry showers developing in the north. At this stage, there is very little sign of any widespread or severe cold and wintry weather.โ
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