SANTA Claus is coming to town - and he looks set bring a white Christmas with him, according to the latest weather forecasts.

Meteorologists yesterday promised snow flurries across the North-East and North Yorkshire on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, although much of it will not be expected to settle.

The predicted snowfall is due to cold air over the North, combining with a warmer band of cloud from the South.

Temperatures are expected to plummet, with parts of the region set to drop as low as -2C or -3C by Boxing Day.

Newcastle Met Office forecaster Simon Williams said: "There is a very good chance that the region will see snow or sleet during Christmas Day.

"And there is an even greater chance of an official white Christmas - which only needs one single snow flake on the roof of a weather centre."

Bookies have accepted more than £250,000 in snow bets.

William Hill said its white Christmas "hot-spot" was Leeds, where it was offering odds of 7-4 on.

The 20th Century has produced only a handful of white Christmases - in 1981, 1970 and 1938 snow almost blanketed the entire country.

Newcastle has recorded a total of seven white Christmases since 1968, with the last one in 1996, but this could mean just a drop of sleet falling on the Met Office's roof.

Durham's record is even bleaker, with only three since 1960, when snow fell on December 25 in 1981, 1993 and 1995.