AFTER weeks of fevered speculation, forecasters have predicted there will be no white Christmas in Birmingham tomorrow.

Although the city has been gripped by an icy freeze over the last week, forecasters said temperatures were set to rise slightly – reducing the possibility of snow.

The news bodes well for bookmakers including William Hill, which had odds of snow falling on Christmas Day at 9/4 yesterday.

For Birmingham to have an official white Christmas, just one flake of snow has to fall on the roof of the Bullring – which has to be confirmed by the Met Office.

The last time the city truly saw a white Christmas was during the winter of 1981. Over that period, Birmingham had between 10 and 15cms of snow on the ground.

But Helen Chivers, from the Met Office, said it was unlikely the city would see any snow at all this Christmas Day.

“There may be some snow hanging around late tonight and it may remain on the ground in the early hours of Christmas Day.

“However, there is little chance of fresh snow falling on the day.”

“There will be a foggy and cloudy start on Christmas morning but temperatures are set to rise to two degrees centigrade in the daytime.

“It will be cloudy in the evening with temperatures dropping to one degree.”

But Hills spokesman Rupert Adams said bookies were still taking a punt on snow falling as they opened their presents tomorrow, with 25,000 bets placed so far.

And national records revealed this year has seen the highest numbers of bets on snow in ten years.

The festive period has already proved costly for bookies after X Factor winner Joe McElderry lost out to a Facebook-inspired campaign which saw Rage Against The Machine win the race for Christmas number one.

Rupert said: “The Christmas period has been a bit of a turkey for us so far.

“And snow would be an absolute disaster.

“We must be the only people in Britain who do not want a white Christmas.”

Nationally, Aberdeen is the odds-on favourite for snow at 5/6.

“London is offered at 2/1 and should snow fall on Buckingham Palace over the 24 hours of Christmas Day the industry will be paying out a seven-figure sum,” Rupert said.