It doesn’t always measure up

White Christmases are hard to come by

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s no wonder there’s so much discord in the world. Nations can’t even agree on what qualifies as a white Christmas.

In the United States, the National Weather Service says a white Christmas is defined as having an inch or more of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. local time Dec. 25, no matter when it falls. A definitive minimummorning requirement is necessary for the meteorologists’ statistical tracking.

But in the United Kingdom, where author Charles Dickens pretty much wrote the book on Christmas, a white Christmas is defined — by the British Meteorological Office and British bookmakers — as snow “observed falling, however little” any time in the 24 hours of Dec. 25. Even if it melts before it hits the ground.

So even if there’s a foot of snow on the British ground on Christmas, if it’s left over from the days before, it doesn’t count.

Ireland sees it differently. Any snow on the ground at 9 a.m. Christmas Day qualifies.

Environment and Climate Change Canada defines a white Christmas as 2 centimeters on the ground at 7 a.m. So, since 2 centimeters is less than an inch and Canada is north of the United States, that gives Canadians a definite leg up in the snowy count.

Brilliantmaps.com tracks and calculates the chances of white Christmases across Europe, where it’s “snow on the ground on Dec. 25.” But even that generous definition can’t boost the numbers as the warm flow of the Gulf Stream keeps white Christmases fairly rare, unless you’re very far north or