In message , Adam Lea
writes
On 18/12/2016 18:22, Graham wrote:

I did say when Scott did his winter forecast on the 1st that I fancied
another mild or very mild December and looking at the charts see no
reason to change that view.
Despite a chilly night last night the mean still way up here at +2.6c
Yet another green Christmas, I wonder how many of them we've had in the
last 50 years

Well a green Christmas, at least for where most people live, is way
more likely climatologically than a white Christmas (even when they try
to make it as likely as possible by using the absurd requirement of a
single flake of snow to fall). The snowy landscapes on Christmas cards
go back to the little ice age when white Christmases and cold winters
would have been far more frequent. December 2010 and March 2013 are
very much the exception rather than the rule.

My memories of Christmases in Cranleigh extends back to the mid 1950s.
In all that time, I can only remember four White Christmases using the
traditional definition of the ground being snow-covered: 1970, 1981,
2009 and 2010 (like London buses, you wait ages for one and then two
come along at once). Only the first of those had snow falling on the
day. I think there was at least one instance of a few flakes falling
from the cumulus cloud which would have met the MO definition, but I
didn't find it memorable enough to be able to tell you what year it was.
--
John Hall
"One can certainly imagine the myriad of uses
for a hand-held iguana maker"
Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher!)