I suppose if you asked anyone in the street what sort of Christmas
weather might have been experienced by the Victorians in the middle of
the 19th century, then some vague reference to frost/snow etc., might be
forthcoming.

However, as *the* person whose name has been given to the age wrote at
the time, 'twas not always (if ever) so:-

24th December 1850: Windsor Castle
" The frost gone, & a raw dull morning. Albert out shooting, & I,
walking with the Children. We walked out in the afternoon, & found it
raw & damp. ....."

25th December 1850: Windsor Castle
" .... We walked with the Children to the Kennels ..... The day was
beautiful but almost too mild for Christmas! .... "

26th December 1850: Windsor Castle
" A dull & raw morning. Albert, out hunting, & I, walking with the
Children ..... A rainy afternoon, but got out for a short walk. ....."

(From Queen Victoria's personal journal as printed in "A Berkshire
Christmas", compiled by David Green/publ. Budding Books)

Nothing changes!

Martin.

--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm

Nothing changes!

- It does, she didn't go in and look at the latest GFS run to see if it was
going to snow on Boxing Day. We are not amused ;-)

Dave

Aye !!

in 1850 we didn't get (mostly young) people checking the GFS model
several times a day and getting all excited about prospects if the
T+one year chart showed a potential cold setup over the Uk, and then
later post up very depressive comments because their favourite weather
model prediction no longer shows the cold snap they were looking
forward to

Now to me, the whole excitement about this weather business is having
an element of doubt about what is coming up in a few weeks time, and i
like the occasional surprise.

Let's say that we did eventually find a way to forecast the weather and
get it 95 percent right for several months or years ahead. Then people
would say, "we'd better start planning for the cold snap in six months
time"

The weather would become just another daily routine with no element of
risk, that you could read like an extended bus or train timetable. And
that would be incredibly dull
Yours, Sinfully (not looking at weather model charts)
Steve