The odds on a white Christmas have been slashed with forecasters predicting snow on December 25 for the first time in 12 years.
With less than 80 days to go, weather experts are anticipating temperatures will drop as low as -8C for the final weeks of 2022.
Ladbrokes have cut the price of the first White Christmas since 2010 to 4-6 while the firm quotes the chances of the coldest December on record as 2/1.
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Spokeswoman Nicola McGeady said: “It has been 12 long years since Ireland experienced snowfall on December 25.
“If these latest odds are anything to go by, it seems punters could finally be getting their White Christmas wish.”
Ireland’s last white Christmas was during the big chill of 2010 when up to 27cm of snow fell and temperatures plummeted in some areas to -17C.
It was just one of nine officially recorded here in the past 60 years – 1964, 1970, 1980, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2010.
Met Eireann stats predict Christmas Day snowfall at the weather station at Dublin Airport is likely once every six years.
Meanwhile, forecasters are watching a rare triple-dip “long La Nina” phenomenon which could cause temperatures to dive.
This year is the just third time the world has seen three consecutive La Nina events, causing ocean’s surface temperature to drop.
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