Dream on for a white Christmas ...

Global warming will slash the chances of white Christmas by nearly two thirds within the next 50 years, government figures reveal.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates that climate change will lead to drastically reduced snowfall across the country.

Inverness will suffer most, with a 59 per cent drop in the prospects of snow on Christmas Day but even in London, the chances will drop by half, official figures show.

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said that current trends compared with the average between 1961 and 1990 pointed to steady reductions in snowfall but it would vary from region to region.

"While there are no robust estimates at the scale of individual cities, the scenarios indicate that in the London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Inverness areas snowfall could be reduced by up to 55, 50, 57 and 59 per cent respectively," he said.

Mr Morley said there could be natural variations in the next 30 years but estimates showed that the chances of snowfall would drop by up to 30 per cent by 2010, by 38 per cent by 2020, by 47 per cent by 2030 and by 65 per cent by 2050.