Brilliant Maps

Making Sense Of The World, One Map At A Time

  • BOOK!
  • Newsletter
  • Board Games
  • Posters
  • Scratch Maps

Probability of a White Christmas Across Europe

March 3, 2023 3 Comments

Probability of a White Christmas Across Europe

Map created by reddit user Haayoaie

The map above shows the probability of a white Christmas, defined as having snow on the ground on December 25th, across Europe. The map was created by Finish reddit user Haayoaie who states that:

When I started doing this map, I was really surprised that a white Christmas is so rare in most of Europe. Only less than 10 % of Europeans live in an area where the Christmas is usually white. I would have thought that a white Christmas is a much more common phenomenon because the Christmas is almost always pictured as snowy.

Doesn’t it feel weird to live in, like, England or Holland, and see all Christmas stories and decorations involving snow?

Conversely one of the more surprising things on the map is that Madrid has a 2% chance of a white Christmas, the same odds as Dublin. Moreover, many places you’d expect to always have white Christmases such as Copenhagen, Vienna, Reykjavik and Stockholm turn out to has them less than half the time.

In the UK, one of the reasons why Christmas is associated with snow may have something to do with Charles Dickens. According to QI: “There happened to be snow every Christmas of the first eight years of Charles Dickens’ life, which probably explains why white Christmases are a consistent feature of his stories.”

In contrast, London only had 4 white Christmases during the entire 20th century: 1927, 1938, 1970, and 1981, which makes the 4% odds look about right.

And finally in case you’re curious as to why white Christmases are so rare in Europe relative to North America, despite major European cities being further north, it all has to do with the Gulf Stream.

And while you might not get to enjoy a white Christmas this year, the following may help:

  • White Christmas [DVD]
  • White Christmas (New Edition)
  • Display Snow Medium 5L
  • Be Amazing SNO-500 Insta Snow Jar
  • The Christmas Workshop Musical Christmas Snow Globe

Enjoy this map then please help us by sharing with a friend:

Filed Under: Europe Tagged With: weather

Other Popular Maps

  • Chile Is a Ridiculously Long Country – Europe & US Size Comparison

    Chile Is a Ridiculously Long Country – Europe & US Size Comparison

  • French Mandate for Syria and The Lebanon In 1922

    French Mandate for Syria and The Lebanon In 1922

  • World’s Largest Cylindrical Map of the World

    World’s Largest Cylindrical Map of the World

  • The British Empire At Its Territorial Peak Covered Nearly The Same Area As The Moon

    The British Empire At Its Territorial Peak Covered Nearly The Same Area As The Moon

  • The Roman Empire vs. The Mongol Empire At Their Respective Peaks

    The Roman Empire vs. The Mongol Empire At Their Respective Peaks

  • Historic vs Present Geographical Distribution of Lions

    Historic vs Present Geographical Distribution of Lions

  • Percent Of Voters By State Who Didn’t Vote For Hillary or Trump In 2016

    Percent Of Voters By State Who Didn’t Vote For Hillary or Trump In 2016

  • Countries Where Politicians & Public Figures Have Been Implicated in the Panama Papers So Far

    Countries Where Politicians & Public Figures Have Been Implicated in the Panama Papers So Far

Comments

  1. Alexandros Papadopoulos says

    December 12, 2015 at 9:09 pm

    Awesome article!

    Reply
  2. Hank w says

    November 2, 2016 at 5:33 pm

    One would think a ‘snow map of Europe’ would be easy to find online. It is not, so thank you for your service.
    PS you might want to double check the Pyrenees area…

    Reply
  3. AllyPally says

    June 23, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    What do you mean by a white Christmas? Falling snow, snow on the ground, or some other criterion?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


World Atlas · Settlers of Catan · Risk · Game of Thrones · Coloring Books · Globes
Monopoly · Star Wars · Game of Life · Pandemic · Ticket To Ride · Drinks Cabinets
Copyright © 2023 · Privacy Policy · Fair Use, Attribution & Copyright · Contact Us
Follow Us: E-mail · Twitter · Facebook · Pinterest · Flipboard