Small chance of it being a white Christmas in Northamptonshire for 2019

With just two weeks to go until Christmas Day, forecasters are predicting there is around a 15 per cent chance of snowfall in Northamptonshire.

Netweather, which is one of the leading independent weather forecasters in the UK, has a range of possible outcomes for the forecast over the festive period to help gauge the likely possibilities.

Netweather says: "We've got a few things to look out for during the coming days - including whether the unsettled onslaught will continue into the Xmas period, and if not, where any high pressure may be able to build around that time.

"Once we get nearer to answering those, we really will be closing in on a more definitive forecast."

Our local weather forecaster @NNWeather said: "There is a much higher chance of a green Christmas."

Temperatures are currently sitting at around 8C on Christmas Eve in Northamptonshire, falling to around 4C overnight into Christmas Day with a low chance of rain.

White Christmas facts

> According to the Met Office, the definition of a white Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 December somewhere in the UK.

> Traditionally it used to use a single location in the country to define a white Christmas, which was the Met Office building in London.

> However, with the increase in betting on where will see a white Christmas, the number of locations have increased and can now include sites such as Buckingham Palace, Belfast (Aldergrove Airport), Aberdeen (Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen FC), Edinburgh (Castle), Coronation Street in Manchester and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

> Forecasters also analyse the data from the observing stations around the UK to provide a complete picture of where snow has fallen or was lying on Christmas Day.

> In the last 54 years, a snowflake has fallen somewhere in the UK on Christmas Day, meaning that you can expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be a white Christmas.

> Scenes of widespread snowing lying on the ground on Christmas Day is much rater.

> There has only been a widespread covering of snow on the ground (where more than 40 per cent of stations in the UK reported snow on the ground at 9 am) four times in the last 51 years.

> The last widespread white Christmas in the UK was in 2010 which was described as 'extremely unusual', as not only was there snow on the ground at 83 per cent of stations (the highest amount ever recorded) but snow or sleet also fell at 19 per cent of stations.

> We are more likely to see snow between January and March than in December, with snow or sleet falling an average 3.9 days in December, compared to 5.3 days in January, 5.6 days in February and 4.2 days in March.

> White Christmases were more frequent in the 18th and 19th centuries, even more so before the change of calendar in 1752 which effectively brought Christmas Day back by 12 days.