Home
Weather London
WeatherRadar
RainfallRadar
TemperatureRadar
WindRadar
LightningRadar
Weather News
Editor's Pick
Discover the app
Weather widget
Contact us
Apps
Career
    Home / Editor's Pick /

    Christmas Day! Defining a white Christmas

14:00
25 December 2022

Christmas Day!
Defining a white Christmas

white christmas

It's officially Christmas Day, but what defines a proper white Christmas?

In the UK, the definition of a white Christmas was set by the Met Office. It used to be that a snowflake had to fall on the Met Office's building in London, but today it's if just one snowflake falls somewhere.

In Ireland, Met Éireann similarly state that a white Christmas is defined by the measure of any quantity of snow falling anytime over Christmas Day. The last Irish white Christmas was in 2010, with a spectacular 27cm of snow.

Meanwhile in the UK, 2021 was the last white Christmas with 6% of stations recording snow falling, but less than 1% of stations reported any snow lying on the ground. The last widespread white Christmas in the UK was also in 2010.

So whether you're having a white Christmas, or just a regular green one, we hope you're having a very merry one either way!

Weather & Radar editorial team
More on the topic
Icy spells in the Southern Hemisphere. Snow in the Andes. . . Tuesday, 28 July 2026
A composite image showing a temperature radar map of South America and a snow-covered town in Chile. The winter cold is bringing heavy snowfall to the Andes and, in some areas, snow down to lower altitudes.
Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Snow in the Andes

Icy spells in the Southern Hemisphere
Fourth heatwave of the year. Peaking Wednesday. . . Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Temperature map of England and Wales on Wednesday 29.07 showing widespread hot conditions, with temperatures reaching 33°C near Cambridge, 32°C around London, Norwich, and Southend-on-Sea, and a large heat warning symbol highlighting elevated heat risk.
Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Peaking Wednesday

Fourth heatwave of the year
Forest fires spread to south-east Europe. Heat and strong winds. . . Thursday, 30 July 2026
Split image showing an active wildfire with flames and thick smoke on the left, and a wind forecast map of Greece on the right with gusts of 25–35 mph around the Aegean Sea, alongside a wildfire warning symbol highlighting elevated fire danger.
Thursday, 30 July 2026

Heat and strong winds

Forest fires spread to south-east Europe
All weather news
This might also interest you
Super Typhoon Bavi threatens Taiwan. Up to 1,000 mm of rain. . . Wednesday, 8 July 2026
The image shows an intense tropical cyclone over the western Pacific, east of Taiwan and the Philippines. The centre of the system is depicted as a light purple and white vortex with a clearly visible eye, surrounded by a ring of red and orange areas indicating the strongest wind speeds. A white arrow marks the typhoon’s predicted track towards the north-west, in the direction of Taiwan. To the west of the storm lie the Philippines, with the cities of Manila and Cebu; to the north of these lies Taiwan, with Taipei. Further west, the Chinese coast, including Hong Kong, and parts of Vietnam can be seen. The coloured wind map shows predominantly green areas outside the storm’s core, indicating significantly weaker winds. White streamlines illustrate the typhoon’s anti-clockwise circulation in the Northern Hemisphere. The highest wind speeds are concentrated around the eye of the cyclone.
Wednesday, 8 July 2026

Up to 1,000 mm of rain

Super Typhoon Bavi threatens Taiwan
A frozen start to the weekend. Icy conditions. . . Friday, 13 February 2026
UK temperature map dated 14.02 showing widespread subzero values in blue shading, with readings such as −4 in Glasgow, −3 in Dublin, and −2 in London, alongside a blue thermometer icon.
Friday, 13 February 2026

Icy conditions

A frozen start to the weekend
Storm Chandra makes impact. Severe gales & heavy rain. . . Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Split image showing strong winds over the UK on a forecast map and widespread rain and snow on a weather radar map.
Tuesday, 27 January 2026

Severe gales & heavy rain

Storm Chandra makes impact
All articles
Weather & Radar

Weather & Radar is also available on

Google Play StoreApp Store

Company

Contact us Privacy Policy Legal info Accessibility statement

Services

Uploader

Socials

facebooktwittertikToklinkList