When was the last white Christmas in Glasgow?

With reports of more snow on the way to the UK, the one question on everyone’s mind is will there be a White Christmas in Glasgow?

After Covid-19 restrictions spoiled Christmas plans last year, we are all hoping for a better festive period this year.

Nothing makes Christmas more magical than waking up a picturesque dusting of snow on the big day.

While areas of the UK have seen a good bit of snow already this year, chances of a white Christmas this year are uncertain.

The long forecast for Glasgow currently suggests cold and unsettled temperatures. With lots of rain, and unfortunately no sign of snow.

What qualifies as White Christmas?

For the Met Office to declare a white Christmas a single snowflake needs to fall at one of their 270 observation sights.

In the eyes of bookmakers, and popular betting sites all that is needed to declare a white Christmas is the observation of a single snowflake falling within the 24 hour of December 25 at one of the 13 major airports in the UK.

Therefore, snow doesn’t even need to lie for a white Christmas.

However, that’s not quite what we mean when it comes to seeing a White Christmas.

We’re talking a snowman building, snow-ball throwing amount of snow.

Snow that you could fall into without hurting yourself too much, something we haven’t seen for over a decade now.

When was the last time Glasgow had a white Christmas?

The last time we saw a white Christmas in Glasgow was 2010. This was when snow was widespread across the UK.

The winter of 2010–2011 was a weather event that brought heavy snowfalls. During this time 83% of weather stations recorded snow lying on the ground.

The 2010 white Christmas was reported as extremely unusual. It was the coldest Christmas ever recorded in the UK.

The winter caused havoc for all across Glasgow with disruption across the region, affecting everything from transport to childcare, many schools were also forced to close.

People were told to avoid travelling if they could, and many people who were travelling experienced sever difficulty getting home.

Before this disruptive winter, the UK hadn’t seen widespread snow like this since 1993.

In past years, some cities might have seen snow while others did not however in 2018 and 2019 no snow was recorded at any of the UK’s weather stations.

Hopefully we will see more than a single snowflake this Christmas.