If your social media feed is abuzz with photographs and videos of the snowfall last night in Ireland, you know just how excited everyone is. Even if the snow is nothing like what one would expect in much colder regions of the world, it hasn’t prevented snowmen with dainty baby-carrot noses from appearing in community parks, shared neighbourhood spaces and driveways!
This is what a smattering of snowfall does to Ireland. Of course, there’s some snow related chaos to be expected, and we all have to be careful while driving. But the first snow showers in Ireland have also raised the hopes of a white Christmas.
Now, a white Christmas in Ireland is not usual. It’s pretty rare.
Since 1961, there were 17 Christmas Days when snow actually fell somewhere in the country, and nine when snow was visible on the ground by 9 am on 25 December.
When it does happen, it brings so much good cheer. The last white Christmas was 12 years ago. According to Met Éireann data released a few years ago, there have been 17 days since modern monitoring began in 1961 where forecasting stations somewhat in the country have recorded snow on Christmas Day: 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2009 and 2010.
Also, with regards to Met Éireann’s numbers (including over 70 years worth of data), the statistical likelihood of snow falling at Dublin Airport (a major monitoring station) on Christmas Day is around once every 5.9 years.
So why is a white Christmas so special? Many believe that despite the inconvenience that snowfall may pose for many people during Christmas time or on the Day itself, it became popular and something people romanticise about after Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol made it all very desirable.
In the US, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” was the best-selling Christmas song of all time, and also the best-selling single ever, according to Guinness World Records.
I think the idea of waking up on Christmas Day, and having the ground around you enveloped in a layer of pristine, white snow is something that most of us find magical.
If you’re dreaming of a White Christmas, do let us know. If you’re not, that’s okay as well! And we would also love to see pictures, people. Tag us on your social media reels and photographs if you are sharing pictures of last night’s snowfall.
(P.S. We have a reel on the snowfall too!)
