The snow falling in Oxfordshire this morning has prompted a flurry of bets on a white Christmas.

Areas to the north of the county around Banbury saw the heaviest covering with buses cancelled and schools announcing emergency closures or delaying opening.

Temperatures today are set to drop as low as minus three with warnings of possible travel disruption across central England.

READ MORE: How long will snow last in Oxfordshire 

After waking up to the wintry scenes thoughts turned to the possibility of a white Christmas, and the tradition of placing a bet on whether snow will fall on your town or city on Christmas Day.

(Image: Ben Hardy) Peter Spencer, a spokesman for The Betfred Group of bookmakers, gave odds of 8/1 for snow falling on Oxford on Christmas Day.

He said: "There's a flurry of bets coming in for Christmas Day now it has started snowing.

"It's unusual for it to snow so far south at this time of year.

"There has to be a snowflake in the sky in your area on Christmas Day for the bet to count - it doesn't have to settle but it does have to be snow."

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.