It was a “technical” white Christmas in the UK this year as the Met Office recorded snowfall in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, although most of the country did not have snow. The forecaster recorded either sleet or snow falling at five of its weather stations across the UK on 25 December, with Edinburgh one of three in Scotland and another two in Northern Ireland. The Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “Officially it was a white Christmas but, of course, a lot of people think of those perfect deep-snow Christmas card scenes and we didn’t really see any snow settle at lower levels yesterday. “What we define a white Christmas as is just a few snowflakes falling, even if it’s mixed with rain, so it’s a technical white Christmas but, for most places, particularly in England and Wales, it was too mild.” There was more widespread snow on Boxing Day, and a yellow weather warning for snow and ice across northern parts of the UK has been issued from 6pm on Monday evening. “We’ve got snow on the ground across Cumbria, quite widely across Scotland this morning, even at lower levels,” Morgan said. “If the colder air had been a little bit earlier to arrive then it would have been a white Christmas, but it’s certainly a white Boxing Day for some of us.” The forecaster warned snowfall and strong winds could lead to blizzard conditions across some Scottish mountain ranges on Monday, for those planning a Boxing Day walk. On Christmas Day, the Met Office recorded snow at Edinburgh’s Gogarbank weather station in Scotland, Loch Glascarnoch in Ross and Cromarty, and Altnaharra in Sutherland. Across the Irish Sea, snow fell in Glenanne, County Armagh, and at Lough Fea in County Derry. “Most of the day was too mild for snow and the showers were falling for rain, but in the evening it got colder and we started to see those showers turn to sleet and then to snow,” Morgan said. Last Christmas, 6% of Met Office stations recorded snowfall, but only 1% had snow lying on the ground. In 2017, 11% of sites recorded snow. The Met Office said the last Christmas Day when most people would remember waking up to snow on the ground was in 2010. On Christmas Day, the Met Office recorded a high of 12.7C (54.86F) in Chertsey, Surrey, while Loch Glascarnoch recorded the lowest temperature, 2.7C (36.86F).