The betting market for an Edinburgh white Christmas has opened with odds implying a 33.33 per cent chance of snowfall, the highest in the UK.
Bookmaker William Hill has predicted that Edinburgh Airport has 2:1 odds of seeing snow on 25 December 2026.
For the Met Office to declare a white Christmas, only a single snowflake has to fall in the 24 hours of Christmas Day.
During the snowy season, Edinburgh holds its annual Winter Festival, which operates during Christmastime; it brought in foot traffic of nearly 2.8m people in 2024. Snow, however, can affect small businesses’ ability to stay open for the general public, let alone the surge in crowds.
Small businesses in the area also worry about slippery floors and quiet streets.
“Sometimes we would have to close the cafe early because it wasn’t safe enough for people to be walking in and out,” said a barista at Press Coffee.
The manager of Love Crumbs West Port expressed similar concerns, also noting that snowy roads affect employees’ ability to get to work.
“People can’t make it to work, so sometimes [the cafe] is closed a bit earlier. It’s also a lot quieter actually when it’s snowy because no one’s outside in the streets.”
Photo by Julia Solonina on Unsplash.
