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Not really. I lived in Long Island, away from the heat island and plenty of space that isn't that urban or dense. White christmases were rather rare, I remember it more likely to rain than snow. Seemed that the chance of having snow on Christmas was 1 in 5 or 1 in 4 at the most. Of course, much more than London or anywhere In AustraliaTemperatures in December aren't really as cold as January and Feburary, with a lot of mild days mixed in with the cold ones.
Did Long Island have a White Christmas in 2002? Or was it a rain event that day? My area recieved about a foot of snow.
I can't remember Christmas 2002. I remember several white christmases recently, but no idea which ones were which. I looked up Long Island to see and looks like there was a high of 41 and a low of 30 that day (normal on Christmas is a high of 42 and low of 25). It rained most of the day but snowed in the morning and night. I assume it turned into a slushy mess.
New York still has a pretty decent chance of seeing a White Christmas, it's just due to the urban denseness of Manhattan it's not much to look at. London used to be colder back then, but now any significant snow at any time during the winter is any event.
The NYC area (not just Manhattan) actually has a low chance of seeing a white Christmas (meaning any snow at all on the ground), about 11 to 26% (NYC/Long Island/NJ/southern Connecticut):
And the chances of a real snow deep enough to go sledding in (minimum of 5 inches) is really a long shot in the NYC area…about 0 to 20%. In the USA, most of the time snow on Christmas Day is found in the border states (US/Canada) of the Western States, the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes/Northern NY, and Massachuttes northward (New England).
I ‘m live less than 50 miles from NYC...and a white Christmas is really a every four or five year occurrence. Often just before I head to Miami in late December, there a modest snow on the last few days of December (not always of course). It really is too bad, because some parts of NYC have a real old world look (like London) when they have a dusting of snow around Christmas. The beaches on Long Island can look very beautiful when there is a dusting of snow.
I think that was the point of the link above (about the Little Ice Age)...perception and climatic reality are often far apart.
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When I was a kid I used to think all of America and Europe had white Christmases almost every year; of course I soon learned it was different. I also believed that in most temperate northern hemisphere places snow would lie all winter. Blame it on those 'four season' photographs and films like Milo and Otis (which was actually filmed in Hokkaido, northern Japan, a place where snow generally does remain for long periods on the ground).
When I was a kid I used to think all of America and Europe had white Christmases almost every year; of course I soon learned it was different. I also believed that in most temperate northern hemisphere places snow would lie all winter. Blame it on those 'four season' photographs and films like Milo and Otis (which was actually filmed in Hokkaido, northern Japan, a place where snow generally does remain for long periods on the ground).
I had no idea that Milo and Otis was originally a Japanese film until I looked it up now.
It looks like winter in Hokkaido, temperature-wise somewhat resembles Southern Ontario. The stats for the city of Sapporo look remarkably like a quite snowier version of Toronto's.
I also only recently found out in the past few years, and was surprised at how mild Europe is was when I got interested in climate and read actual numbers on the internet. I always was taught that Europe was milder than North America in school, but I hadn't imagined how by much (ie. I thought that places in Britain and France would have at least around a month or two averaging below freezing and with snow lying around, say with an average winter min -3 to -5C).
Last edited by Stumbler.; 11-22-2010 at 07:02 PM..
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ben86
I heard once that some places near Melbourne actually had snow on Christmas Day in 2006 - how high up/far away must that have been? I remember watching the cricket on Boxing Day and even the English commentators were saying they couldn't believe how cold it was for midsummer in Australia.
I know it snowed in the Alps, but as for the Dandenongs - it seems more like small hail, imo.
I've seen it snow in Tasmania in December, though.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stumbler.
I had no idea that Milo and Otis was originally a Japanese film until I looked it up now.
It looks like winter in Hokkaido, temperature-wise somewhat resembles Southern Ontario. The stats for the city of Sapporo look remarkably like a quite snowier version of Toronto's.
I also only recently found out in the past few years, and was surprised at how mild Europe is was when I got interested in climate and read actual numbers on the internet. I always was taught that Europe was milder than North America in school, but I hadn't imagined how by much (ie. I thought that places in Britain and France would have at least around a month or two averaging below freezing and with snow lying around, say with an average winter min -3 to -5C).
Yes, although I knew Britain was never Arctic-cold, the idea that snow is now semi-rare in places like London doesn't really strike one, as in Dickens' novels etc snow always seems to characterise winter (colder times, as well, even then though London was nowhere near as cold as the equivalent latitude in the northern hemisphere today).
Places like Berlin, Zurich do seem -3, -5 months, but yeah London and Paris are mild maritime temperate climates more like Seattle in temps than NYC or Chicago.
If snow settles in London it is considered newsworthy. 1-2cm of snow will shut the city down. We might get a light dusting of snow as early as next week - incredibly early in the season. Normally if we do see snow, it doesn't occur until Jan or Feb.
The coldest month, January, averages 8C/3C and only 6 days with frost. Heathrow airport records 25 frost days annually, whereas Central London records just 7 days.
Last winter was the coldest for 31 years, with the following averages:
If snow settles in London it is considered newsworthy. 1-2cm of snow will shut the city down. We might get a light dusting of snow as early as next week - incredibly early in the season. Normally if we do see snow, it doesn't occur until Jan or Feb.
The coldest month, January, averages 8C/3C and only 6 days with frost. Heathrow airport records 25 frost days annually, whereas Central London records just 7 days.
Last winter was the coldest for 31 years, with the following averages:
Dec: 6.6C/2.4C
Jan: 4.3C/0.5C
Feb: 6.7C/2.1C
Is the daily range usually that small? I suppose the clouds and the ocean prevent much temperature change. All of those months would be an above average winter for me.
I always was taught that Europe was milder than North America in school, but I hadn't imagined how by much (ie. I thought that places in Britain and France would have at least around a month or two averaging below freezing and with snow lying around, say with an average winter min -3 to -5C).
Snow sticks around for at most a few weeks in NYC with an average low of -3C or so. There have been winters where snow stuck around for longer but others that were almost snow-free. But I'm sure snow sticks around in Britain and France more.
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