White Christmas for the Highlands? Met Office issues yellow weather warning for snow and ice on Christmas Day and Boxing Day - alert covers parts of Caithness, Sutherland, Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, Moray, Aberdeenshire and as far south as Loch Lomond

CHANCES of a white Christmas in parts of the Highlands have increased after the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Although Christmas Day is expected to start slightly milder, changing wind directions are expected to see colder air plunge south later in the day.

And now the Met Office has warned residents in the Highlands that up to 20cm of snow is possible later on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Its yellow warning, which comes into force at 9pm on Christmas Day and remains in force overnight until 6pm on Boxing Day, covers parts of Caithness, Sutherland, Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, Moray, Aberdeen-shire and even as far south as Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.

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A spokesman said: "Strengthening west-northwesterly winds will bring increasingly frequent wintry showers to the west of Scotland through Sunday night and into Monday morning.

"These may fall as snow to low levels for a time where temporary accumulations of 1-3cm are possible, with 5-10cm of snow over the hills.

"Icy surfaces will be an additional hazard. Snow will become increasingly confined to higher ground through Monday morning, with a further 10cm or so possible by the end of the day.

"Strong to gale force winds bring the risk of drifting and blizzards for upland areas, with a small risk of isolated power outages as the snow and strong wind affects power lines."

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