5 days Ago By [email protected] (Liam Doyle)
The Met Office has given an update on whether Brits can expect snow on Christmas Day this year, with just over a week to go until December 25. Weather forecasts across the country have turned sour in recent days, with temperatures declining and rainfall descending in bands, occasionally heavily. Some, limited, snowfall has already started in typically chilly areas like the Scottish Highlands, over very high ground.
The Met Office has signalled that more of the same is likely over the next week in its long-range forecast, with Christmas Day now under 10 days away. But, while the agency's longer range track covers up to December 29, one annual feature is noticeably absent from its prediction. The agency has said it is not yet ready to forecast whether to expect snow on Christmas Day, with Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern giving Brits a peek behind the curtain into the process behind its festive predictions.
Speaking to The Independent, the forecaster said it could soon be ready to hand down its verdict. He said: “What meteorologists actually do, is rather than cherry pick one computer model run for more than two weeks’ time, the computer models are run lots and lots of times and then we can pick out areas where they are agreeing and areas where they are disagreeing. “Then we can talk about likely weather patterns and less-likely weather patterns, common themes and so on.
” While it is yet to issue its formal prediction for the big day, the Met Office threshold for a white Christmas is surprisingly low, with only a single snowflake necessary for the agency to to issue its verdict. The Met Office explains that, in order to declare a "white Christmas", it only needs to observe a single snowflake falling over the 24 hours of Christmas Day, December 25. The snowflake, it adds, must be observed either by an official Met Office observer or one of the agency's automated weather stations.
The agency states: "This is because it needs to be officially verified both for our climate records, and also to provide consistency and certainty." At present, long range predictions suggest this is unlikely, with the forecast for December 20 to 29 stating it will remain wet and windy, with "unsettled" weather dominating..
