When was the last white Christmas in London?
A blast of cold arctic air is likely to sweep the UK this week, bringing the possibility of snow in some areas, weather forecasters say.
But the potential of snowy weather has many wondering if we’re likely to see London covered in snow around the festive season.
When was the last white Christmas in London?
When did London last have a white Christmas?
According to the Met Office, a white Christmas is officially recorded whenever a snowflake falls on Christmas day.
The most recent times London had a snowy holiday was in 2022, with 2021, 2020 and 2017 also being classed white Christmases.
But most of us think of a white Christmas as blankets of snow covering the UK – yet London hasn’t seen a true white Christmas for 20 years.
London has technically had six white Christmases since 1960: 1964, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1996 and 1999.
However, white Christmases in London have not always been so rare.
According to the Met Office “winters were particularly persistent and severe” from 1550-1850, as Britain (and the entire Northern hemisphere) was going through what is now known as the Little Ice Age.
This is why we see such harsh descriptions of winter in the novels of Charles Dickens, such as in A Christmas Carol.
During this time snowfall was common and the river Thames would even completely freeze over, meaning that people could ice skate on it.
Football pitches, bowling matches, fruit-sellers, shoemakers and even barbers were also set up on the ice, in what was known as Frost Fairs – can you imagine that happening now?
The Met office added: ‘Since 1960, around half of the years have seen at least 5% of the network record snow falling on Christmas Day.
‘This means we can probably expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be a white Christmas.’
Will we have a white Christmas this year?
It’s too early to truly tell if we’ll have a white Christmas this year, but in the next few weeks a cold snap will hit the UK.
A ‘reasonably strong signal’ has been detected for a downturn on Friday, bringing yet more showers in Scotland and north-east England that could fall as sleet and snow over hills.
‘There is a 70 per cent chance that areas as far south as southern England could experience overnight frosts and a general reduction in temperature,’ Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster Helen Caughey said.
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