In pictures: A bright rather than white Christmas for East Anglia

Once again there was no white Christmas for the East of England with bright skies and then outbreaks of rain in afternoon and evening.

Although only a single flake of snow needs to be recorded at a weather observation site for it be officially a white Christmas, 2022 once again missed out in East Anglia with rain always more likely than snow.

Temperatures on Christmas Eve in the ITV Anglia area reached a maximum of 10.5°C at Cardington in Bedfordshire, which is about 3°C higher than average for December.

And Christmas morning dawned on the mild side too with temperatures starting the day at 7-9°C, above where they would normally be during daylight on Christmas Day.

By the end of the day, Santon Downham in Suffolk was the mildest spot in the Anglia region with a maximum temperature of 11.7°C.

The second half of December has turned a lot milder in the Anglia region compared to the freezing conditions experienced earlier in the month.

The thermometer plunged to -12.7°C at Woburn in Bedfordshire on 15 December making it the coldest night of the year and the lowest temperature in the East of England since January 2013.

For five days in a row, the temperature failed to climb above freezing point at Stowe in Buckinghamshire.

With the end of 2022 fast approaching it looks likely that December will be the only month of the year to turn out colder than average after record-breaking temperatures topping 40°C in the summer.

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