WILL IT BE A
WHiTE
CHRISTMAS?
For many of us, snow is
synonymous with Christmas. Bing
Crosby famously dreamt of it,
while movies, advent calendars
and Christmas cards are all
decorated with snow-filled scenes
of a White Christmas.
However, for most parts of the United
Kingdom, Christmas is only at the
beginning of the period when it's likely
to snow. We are more likely to see snow
between January and March than in
December with snow or sleet falling an
average 3.9 days in December,
compared to 5.3 days in January, 5.6
days in February and 4.2 days in March.
White Christmases were more frequent
in the 18th and 19th centuries, even
more so before the change of calendar
in 1752 which effectively brought
Christmas day back by 12 days. Climate
change has also brought higher average
temperatures over land and sea and this
generally reduced the chances of a white
Christmas.
124 THEGAYUK | ISSUE 17 | DEC 2015
What is a White
Christmas?
The definition that the Met Office uses
to define a White Christmas is 'a single
snowflake falling during the 24 hours of
Christmas Day' at a specified location.
Traditionally the location was the Met
Office building in London. However,
with the increase in betting on where
will see a White Christmas the number
of locations have increased and can now
include Buckingham Palace, Belfast
(Aldergrove Airport), Aberdeen
(Pittodrie - Aberdeen FC), Edinburgh
(Castle), Coronation Street in
Manchester and the Millennium
Stadium in Cardiff.
We also analyse the data from our
observing stations around the UK to
provide a complete picture of where
snow has fallen or was lying on
Christmas Day.