In message , Graham
writes


Yes, I know. But it doesn't seem any more unfair to me than the
possible unfairnesses with falling snow that I've outlined. And I like
the suggestion that's been made that lying snow at any time during the
day should count.
I know where you are coming from John.
Out two Coldest December's (1981 & 2010) both had lots of lying snow
and were both ice days, yet they were not classed as a white Christmas.
1976 by comparison had a few light snow flurries and that was classed a
white Christmas, seems a bit bizarre.


I've been thinking about it, and I suspect that the bookies may prefer
to use "snow falling" rather than "snow lying" because it's less easy to
forecast a week or so in advance. In 2010, for instance, one could be
pretty sure a week in advance that much of the country would have snow
lying on Christmas Day. That would have meant that the bookies would
have had to set odds of something like 5-1 on, which in turn would have
meant that few people would want to bet and so the bookies' profits
would suffer.
--
John Hall
"One can certainly imagine the myriad of uses
for a hand-held iguana maker"
Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher!)