FORECASTERS who have prompted a flurry of bets on a white Christmas in the North-East admitted last night: "We're no experts."

Bookmakers have shortened the odds on snow falling on December 25 after an Internet site suggested we could be in for some Arctic-style weather.

But meteorologists dismissed the claim as guesswork, insisting it was impossible to predict the weather with any accuracy more than a few weeks ahead.

Forecasts are made on the site themonthahead.co.uk, set up by four computer programmers who are keeping their identity under wraps.

A spokesman for the group said they based their predictions on records gathered over the past 60 years.

From looking at each day separately, they base their predictions for the future on the most common weather conditions in the past.

He said: "We're not qualified meteorologists, and we don't pretend to be, but we do have 60 years of weather data.

"The Internet site is based around probabilities. We have simply broken down the trends and then issued our forecasts."

He said over Christmas they were predicting low pressure over the North Sea, producing northerly winds bringing polar air and snow across the country.

The forecast has sparked an unusually early rush of bets on a white Christmas, cutting the odds at William Hill from 8-1 to 7-1.

A spokeswoman said: "Usually the odds change about five days before Christmas when we get the forecasts, but some people have heard the prediction of snow and we have had a few bets on it."

But a Meteoroligical Office spokesman said themonthahead website's forecast was little more than guesswork.

Neil Tallboys, forecaster at the Press Association Weather Centre, said it was impossible to make long-range predictions which stated what the weather would be like on any given day.

He said: "The only thing you can possibly do more than ten days ahead is work out statistics.

"You can always tell if a long-range forecast is not worth it when they try and predict day by day."

And even themonthahead spokesman warned against putting any money on their prediction.

"We would not bet on the weather at all," he said