Hopes of a white Christmas in Kent have melted away with some predicting it may be one of the wettest on record.

Despite the white stuff falling across the county only eight days ago meteorologists are predicting much more milder conditions over the festive period.

A Met Office spokesman said: "At the moment the mild conditions that we are in currently are forecast to continue through the week and into Christmas.

"As such the chances of snow, especially in the South East, are very low.

"The weather as a whole this week is fairly benign and there isn’t much to speak about, there is a chance of some fog overnight that could linger in the mornings but nothing very remarkable."

The Met Office says the last recording of falling snow in Kent on Christmas Day was in Goudhurst in 2001 and you have to go back to 1981 for the last time there was lying snow in the county on December 25.

Ladbrokes last month slashed the odds of it being a white Christmas in Kent this year to as low as 6/1 as temperatures dropped.

But anyone wanting a flutter should note they have since revised their prediction amid talk of milder conditions.

The firm is now offering odds of 5/4 on snow falling in Kent on December 25 - and also 7/4 that this year could be the wettest Christmas Day recorded.

Betfair spokesman Katie Baylis said: "The odds of a White Christmas for Kent are now at 7/4 following the extremely cold weather that we've seen over the last couple of weeks.

"While we would usually, as you would expect, take more bets on snow on the 25 in more northern regions and cities, we are seeing some interest in betting in the south following the battering that counties like Kent have taken in recent weeks."

Snow fell in large parts of Kent on December 10 and 11.

It came after light flurries and snow showers in Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, Gravesend, Medway and Dover on November 30.

The Met Office definition of a white Christmas is for a single snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25 somewhere in the UK.

This has happened 38 times in the last 54 years, it says.

However, widespread snow lying on the ground on Christmas Day is much rarer and has only been reported by more than 40% of weather stations in the UK four times in the last 51 years.