HOPES of a white Christmas are melting away – with bookmakers now pondering whether we will have the hottest December 25 instead.

Bookies have slashed the odds of the mercury hitting more than 15.6 degC on Christmas Day from 25/1 to 12/1.

Meanwhile the odds are 6/1 for snow on Sunday. Yesterday The Weather Channel was predicting a partly cloudy day with a high of 7degC and a low of 2degC.

The Met Office has said it is too early to tell what the weather will be on Christmas Day, but expects the temperature at Brize Norton to rise steeply during the week.

William Hill defines a white Christmas in Oxfordshire as one flake of snow falling on the meteorological station at Brize Norton during the 24 hours of Christmas Day.

Spokesman Rupert Adams said: “It has been a topsy-turvy weekend. There has been lots of money going on it snowing but now people are going the other way.”

A spokesman said: “It is looking like it is going to be cloudy, with temperatures around five or six early this week. But by the end of the week you are looking at temperatures of around 12 degrees because of warm air coming from the Atlantic.”