Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
'Is a white Christmas just a dream?'
BBC Magazine: Is a white Christmas just a dream?
With swaths of the country blanketed by snow, there has been growing speculation that 2009 will be a white Christmas for many. But how common really is snow on 25 December in the UK?
Reliable figures on Christmas snow coverage only go back about half a century. The Met Office has records showing the number of its weather stations around the UK reporting snow lying at 9am on Christmas Day since 1957.
In 29 of the 52 years since then, there has been no snow reported at any of the stations.
A further 11 years had less than 5% reporting snow and only once in that period - in 1981 - have more than half of them reported snow.
The "Little Ice Age", a period of global cooling that ran between about 1550 and 1850, meant white Christmases were not uncommon in centuries gone by. Its influence is still there in the classic literature of the time and traditional Christmas card designs.
With swaths of the country blanketed by snow, there has been growing speculation that 2009 will be a white Christmas for many. But how common really is snow on 25 December in the UK?
Reliable figures on Christmas snow coverage only go back about half a century. The Met Office has records showing the number of its weather stations around the UK reporting snow lying at 9am on Christmas Day since 1957.
In 29 of the 52 years since then, there has been no snow reported at any of the stations.
A further 11 years had less than 5% reporting snow and only once in that period - in 1981 - have more than half of them reported snow.
The "Little Ice Age", a period of global cooling that ran between about 1550 and 1850, meant white Christmases were not uncommon in centuries gone by. Its influence is still there in the classic literature of the time and traditional Christmas card designs.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Interesting to note that a graphic in the same article suggests that my childhood memories of more snowy winters weren't just rose-coloured specs:
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