THE ominous-looking clouds which brought blizzard conditions to much of the region on Saturday may make a limited return on Christmas Day.

A spokesman for PA WeatherCentre said there was a 90 per cent chance of snowfall on Christmas Day - with Scotland and the north of England the most likely recipients.

The North-East and North Yorkshire is likely to be generally dry and cold, with snow expected near the coast.

Meanwhile, last-minute shoppers braved the wintry conditions to embark on a record Christmas spending spree over the weekend.

The late rush for presents set tills jangling in the major shopping centres, which reported better-than-ever sales. Gateshead's MetroCentro has been one of the busiest places in the country during the past week, with more than 730,000 people through its doors - more than 200,000 of them on Saturday and Sunday.

Another 30,000 were at Darlington's Cornmill Centre yesterday, where men's and women's fashions were big sellers and there were queues for CDs at the HMV store.

Stores at The Bridges, in Sunderland, took a massive £1m over the past week, and shops in Durham City, York and Teesside were also reporting strong sales.

The MetroCentre's marketing manager, Karen Carr, said new late-night opening hours had helped make it a stress-free Christmas for shoppers.

She said: "All the big retailers have reported tremendous successes, and 37 per cent of the business has been done between 6pm and 10pm."

Travellers heading home for the festive period are keeping the region's two main airports busy. Newcastle Airport is expecting 66,000 passengers through its doors during the next two weeks.

Spain, the Balearics, the Canary Islands and Cyprus are the most popular winter sun destinations, while ski lovers are heading to Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland.

There were no empty seats on any of the weekend holiday flights from Teesside Airport, where 280 North-East passengers escaped the snow for the warmth of Alicante, in southern Spain.