BRITISH holidaymakers enjoying Spanish Costa getaways this Christmas can look forward to sunshine and temperatures above 20C.
Tourists who beat the UK Border Force strikes and other industrial action will be able to swap their coats for shorts and T-shirts once they touch down.
Forecasters have predicted temperatures of up to 5C higher than normal for most parts of the Spanish mainland over the festive period.
The Canary Islands are normally a popular winter sunshine getaway for Brits and any heading there this winter are in luck.
Spanish weather agency Aemet is predicting top-up-tan weather over the next few days for parts of mainland Spain too, including the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella.
The agency's Christmas Eve forecast for the holiday hotspot is all-day sun and a temperature of 22C, with Boxing Day temperatures also nudging the twenties.
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Orihuela on the Costa Blanca just south of Alicante looks set to enjoy sun as well, with Christmas Day temperatures reaching 23C.
And in islands like Menorca the outlook is also good, with temperatures over the next few days predicted to be between 18 and 21C.
By contrast, top temperatures in London on Christmas Day are set to peak at just 10C, although forecasters are predicting it will feel colder, saying there is a 50 per cent risk of rain at midday.
Any hopes of a white Christmas in the UK melted away as the two-week freeze was ended thanks to warmer air from the Atlantic.
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Day temperatures soared to 15.8C in Rhyl, Denbighshire.
Benson in Oxfordshire went from -12C last week to 12C, and Keswick in Cumbria saw an overnight double-digit rise from 0C to 14C.
Expert Dr Stephen Burt, at the University of Reading, said the rise was extraordinary.
He added: “Mild and humid tropical air from Madeira transported quickly north and eastwards, displacing the cold airflow.”
A white Christmas looks unlikely in the South but remains a chance up North.
Forecaster Nicola Maxey said: “That split is going to emerge mid-week with some colder air returning to the North.
"It won’t be as cold but it will increase the likelihood of wintry showers going into the weekend.
Temperatures on the Costas are not expected to dip until early in the new year.
Spanish weather expert Jorge Olcina said: “For the next few days including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we’re going to have very nice midday temperatures.”
The unseasonal weather forecast comes on the back of a sweltering summer and warmer-than-normal autumn which is expected to make this year in Spain the hottest on record.
The downside for travellers booked to go abroad in the next few days will be the Border Force strikes beginning on Friday, December 23, which have led to warnings of airport delays and fears of closures.
Spanish workers at three airlines, Air Nostrum, Ryanair and Vueling, have also announced a total of 17 days of industrial action between Thursday, December 22 and January 8.
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Meanwhile, staff from Spanish airport authority AENA are also planning strikes this winter.
And these are the hottest places in Spain and when people should visit.
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