Exact day snow to start falling this week ahead of White Christmas

19 December 2023, 19:56

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

Snow will start falling in the UK this week ahead of a White Christmas, the Met Office has predicted.

According to the national forecaster, a White Christmas is looking 'highly likely' for Brits across the country.

While temperatures have been more mild in recent weeks, even reaching as high as 13C in southern England, a fresh festive cold snap is in store.

According to the Met Office, from around December 23, the Christmas period is "most likely to start with a colder, showery, northerly airflow across much of the country".

This is likely to bring "some snowfall", the forecaster added, primarily in the hills and mountains of Scotland.

The Met Office went on to say that this "interlude" is likely to be "short-lived", before milder temperatures return.

This could lead to some transient snow for a short period.

Its long-range forecast, which runs from December 24 to January 2, reads: "The coldest conditions are always more-likely towards the north, where showers are likely to be wintry at times, with the snow mainly confined to the hills and mountains of Scotland, and perhaps the far north of England at times."

Read More: 'Danger to life' warning as 80mph winds to sweep UK causing travel chaos ahead of white Christmas

Read More: More than one hundred hurt in Beijing subway crash as heavy snow hits capital

What defines a White Christmas?

It's been a couple of years since the last White Christmas, with the last one officially recorded in 2022, though no snow was actually recorded on the ground.

According to the Met Office's definition, it is a White Christmas if one snowflake falls in the 24 hours of 25 December somewhere in the UK.

While the national forecaster says the most accurate forecast for a White Christmas can be given between December 20 and 25, its long-range forecast now covers the big day.

The last white Christmas in the UK was in 2022, when nine percent of stations recorded snow falling.

There were also White Christmases recorded in 2020 and 2021, though again, less than one percent of stations reported snow actually lying on the ground in 2021, and four percent in 2020.

There was no snow recorded in 2018 or 2019, according to the Met Office, and the last widespread White Christmas came in 2010, when there was snow at 83 percent of stations in the UK.

This was the highest ever amount recorded.