Odds shorten on a white Christmas

The odds on a white Christmas continued to shorten yesterday, as the likelihood of cold weather over the next week became a certainty.

Met ╔ireann is still hedging its bets on conditions for the 25th. But faced with the prospect of a blizzard of opportunistic punters sweeping into its shops, Paddy Power bookmakers have cut the odds on Christmas Day snow to a wintry 11 to 8.

A Met spokeswoman encouraged the bookies' caution by confirming that weather for the next week would feature variations on a theme of "cold".

Today's bitter temperatures, threatening sleet and snow on high ground in the northern half of the country, will relent a little tomorrow, while Monday and early Christmas Day will be cloudier and wetter, with a prospect of rain and sleet.

But later on the 25th it will get "very cold" again, and that rare thing, a white Christmas, is a distinct possibility. "It was close last year," adds the spokeswoman, not making any promises.

For meteorologists, a white Christmas used to be defined as an inch of snow, which is "a lot". But Paddy Power will settle for a single flake, so long as the flake is recorded at the weather station in Dublin Airport.

The odds have fallen more dramatically than snow in Thessaloniki since the firm opened the book at 6/1 in October. Although the chain concedes that information rather than money is forcing the price down, it was cut to 3/1 on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and is now "the shortest price I can remember", according to a spokesman.

Ireland is belatedly getting the sort of weather that brought heavy snowfalls to southern Europe, including Greece, earlier this week. Met ╔ireann says Europe will remain cold "right down to the Alps", with the Mediterranean unsettled and wet. Britain will have similar weather to Ireland in coming days, but will "almost definitely" get snow in the east.

The ESB said last night that hundreds of technical staff will be available to deal with any emergencies, reminding the public that its call centres at Wilton in Cork and Finglas in Dublin were particularly important during major storms like those experienced over previous Christmas periods. Under no circumstances should people approach fallen power lines, but instead should call the Garda or ESB.