White Christmas........ In The Freezer

24th December, 2008
White Christmas will only occur inside the nations freezer's this year.

Yes folks, the only heavy frost this year will be on your packets of frozen garden peas. Despite a very wintry start , with the coldest December for 30 years the country has been blanketed with a relatively mild front in the last couple of days. A bit overcast and gloomy, dry and not too cold.

The good news means less heating required and smaller bills, the bad news.... You won't be able to have a Dickensian Christmas with big snowflakes falling outside as you tuck into your Christmas Dinner. Father Christmas will not require snow tracks on his sleigh tyres, so this means he'll get round the world quicker, with faster landings. (Did you know the Australians beleive that when he gets to Australia, he gives Rudolph and the rest of the reindeers a rest and hooks up his sleigh to some Kangeroos. When he's finished there he sets off again with Rudolph and the rest of the gang. Having had a bit of a rest they get over the Pacific Ocean skies much quicker!)

A White Christmas is really quite a rare thing in the British Isles. There has only been seven Christmases since 1901 where the most of the country has had good snow coverage. For a few centuries leading up to the Victorian period, Britain descended into a mini ice age and heavy snows were quite common in December. There even used to be frost fairs on the Thames which would regularly freeze over in winter.

America has no such worries this Christmas, there has been huge snow falls in recent days, from Seattle right across to the East Coast, many people have their electricity cut off and not being able to travel.