The repercussions of this year's hot summer weather are now being felt. Newspapers have been reporting many implications for the consumer, rising bread prices for instance due to crop damage in parts of scorched Europe, and the price of Christmas trees has also allegedly raised this season.

Well it may have been a few pence more but I for one have my tree all festively decorated and am suitably excited about Christmas day itself.

It was as I was driving back from the north yesterday after visiting family that I first thought how lovely it would be to come back to snow next week on my Christmas trip. It seems so long ago that the snow used to be a regular occurrence back in Lincolnshire where the school used to be regularly closed as the boiler broke down under the strain of sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow - all very exciting as a youngster! This all seems to be a distant memory now and in fact Leeds Weather Centre (not a million miles away from Lincolnshire) last reported snow on Christmas day back in 2000, and then it was nothing more than a shower.

Snow can be quite the opposite of fun though - this last January for instance, snow brought parts of Britain to a standstill. I remember sitting in my car on a dual carriageway in Peterborough for 6 hours behind lorries which couldn't handle the slippery roads.

There's been some unwelcome snow in Turkey over the last few days as well, where heavy falls have forced schools and roads to shut down in several parts including the capital, Ankara. High winds have also brought down trees and blown off house roofs, motorists were also stranded in their vehicles.

But I still like to think of snow as exciting. London is usually used as the benchmark for a 'White Christmas' - any form of frozen precipitation falling on London Weather Centre between the hours of midnight on Christmas Eve to midnight Christmas Day constitutes a white one, and allows any gamblers to collect their winnings! The last few years have been a little thin on the ground though, the last recorded snow in London on the day itself was Christmas 1999.

So will this year be a white one...? If you would like to keep updated then keep logging on to the BBC Weather Centre website, but it appears that some of the bookies are already betting 4-1 on London having a White Christmas.

Well I won't be placing a bet just yet, but as we approach the big day next week, it looks as if we could be in for colder weather and possibly some of the white stuff in the few days beforehand, although no promises as yet on the day itself...place your bets now.

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Weather News from the last five days:
17/12/2003
16/12/2003
15/12/2003
14/12/2003
13/12/2003

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