We don’t often get what is dubbed a ‘white Christmas’ here in the UK, but there hasn’t been as much talk of one potentially gracing us with its presence on the big day itself as there has been in 2021.
Much to the delight – or to the bah humbugs amongst us, dismay – of the general public, the Met Office’s advance forecasting for the festive period did originally predict that much of the North, including here in Greater Manchester, would actually be seeing a covering of snow on Christmas Day for the first time since 2010.
2010 is widely-known as being the last widespread ‘white Christmas’, with 83% of weather stations across the UK reporting snow on the ground on 25 December.
Of course, as is always expected with the UK weather, things don’t tend to stay one way for long, and now the forecast does look a little different than it previously did for the next few days – although, there is still the possibility for a dusting of snow in some places.
So, will it snow after all then? If not, what’s actually in store for us this Christmas?
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Here’s the current forecast.
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According to the Met Office’s latest-published ‘Christmas weather forecast’, most of the county will experience an “unsettled” Christmas this year, with the greatest chance of some snow coming for those over high ground in northern England and Scotland.
At present though, cloud, rain, and fog has taken charge over much of the UK.
The Met Office says that spells of rain will push towards the North East, bringing “an unsettled spell of weather” that will continue through the Christmas period, and as the initial band of rain bumps into colder air over higher Northern ground and over Scotland, there will be a wintry mix of rain, sleet, and snow in some areas.
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And today will see further showery rain moving north-eastwards across the UK, with colder and drier conditions over the North and Scotland.
Christmas Day
On Christmas Day itself, much of the UK will sadly see continued rain.
However, according to the Met Office, further North – where “the boundary between milder and colder air is” – there is a chance of some snow, again, primarily over high ground.
While this exact location is still uncertain, however, forecasters are saying it is possible that the Peak District, Pennine areas – which covers parts of Greater Manchester – and then the Southern Uplands later are “the most likely” to see snow.
Further north, in the cold air, skies will be clearer with sunshine and lower daytime temperatures.
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“The Christmas period will be a fairly unsettled spell across the UK this year,” explained Chris Bulmer – Deputy Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office.
“Many will see wet and cloudy conditions as mild air dominates over the South and West of the UK. Where this mild air meets colder air trying to sink South, there is a chance of some Christmas snow, this looking most likely over the Pennines, however exactly where this boundary will be is still uncertain.
“In the far North, cold conditions and clearer skies will bring a more wintry feel [and] for many areas, a brisk easterly wind will bring a notable wind chill.”
Following recent reports that said ‘a snowbomb’ could drop be dropping up to 1cm of snow in the North West within just an hour on 27 December, some weather forecasters are now predicting that this new storm could also batter the UK shortly after Christmas.
Although not officially declared by the Met Office as of yet, Storm Corrie would be the third storm of the winter season, following the recent Storm Arwen and Storm Barra.
Storm Corrie would potentially bring with it rain and snow.
Featured Image – Geograph (David Dixon) | Visit Manchester
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Liam Gallagher says what everyone’s thinking about SNL’s Oasis sketch dubbed ‘the worst skit ever’
Danny Jones
Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher has responded to the recent SNL sketch about the band’s reunion and, like virtually everyone else on the planet, he struggled to find it funny.
Put it this way, his reaction was much more short and sweet than most people’s.
In case you missed it, the legendary US comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live (more commonly known as SNL) recently tried to hop on the bandwagon of the worldwide Oasis buzz following the announcement of their comeback.
With no exaggeration, it’s one of the biggest pieces of news not only in music but that the entertainment industry has seen in a long while so, naturally, the long-standing satirical comedy show felt like they had to comment on it. We just kind of wish they hadn’t…
There is a very good chance that this Oasis skit from SNL is the worst thing you will see today, perhaps this week and quite possibly ever. It is grim.
The Saturday Night Live Oasis sketch is bafflingly and embarrassingly bad. I implore you not to watch it, as I did, thinking people were exaggerating its awfulness. Forget the lack of any humour, what were those accents? Essex?
Let us caveat this by assuring you that there have been plenty of genuinely great SNL sketches down the decades and there’s a reason the series has been going for nearly half a century – this just sadly isn’t one of them. Brace yourselves.
Panned by both native and British viewers alike, the attempt to tap into the excitement and poke fun at the ever-amusing Gallagher brothers wasn’t just a swing and miss, it was a complete strike-out as the Yanks would say.
As just one of countless people put it on social media: “Don’t even know where to start with this. Legitimately one of the worst skits I’ve ever seen. Even worse than that Sydney Sweeney dog cheerleader one they did, and that’s saying something.” Seriously, people hate it.
Despite the fact that there’s always been a rich vein of comedy around Oasis – be it the Burnage boys’ perpetual squabbling and unwavering egos, the caricatured look plus the almost overly performative Mancunian persona of the band and their fans – they couldn’t tap into it any of it convincingly at all.
Naturally, Liam Gallagher himself obviously saw the sketch, which has now been dubbed “excruciating”, “beyond cringe” and perhaps “one of the worst ever” online, and when asked his opinion replied in typically dismissive LG fashion:
Put in the nicest way possible, the whole thing just feels like a skit written by someone who clearly isn’t much of a fan and has very little real knowledge of Oasis whatsoever, but who also fundamentally has no real grasp of any real British culture, let alone anything to do with Manchester.
Nevertheless, the Oasis reunion has seemingly brought joy to most of us here in the UK and indeed many other countries around the world including the US, as Manchester’s most famous sons have also sold out all over their North American tour dates despite never quite making it quite as big there.
You can watch all three minutes and 27 seconds of the now infamous Oasis SNL sketch down below but we will warn you now, as good as some of their skits have been over the years this one is genuinely like pulling teeth…
Featured Images — SNL (via YouTube)/Stefan Branding (via Wikimedia Commons)
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WWE brings out Manc UFC champion Tom Aspinall and his belt at Co-op Live
Danny Jones
WWE Live landed at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena for the first time on Wednesday night and they had a surprise guest waiting in the wings with them too: none other than local UFC star Tom Aspinall.
It was only back in July that the Manc mixed martial artist was last at Co-op Live for UFC 304, the first sporting event held at the state-of-the-art entertainment venue, where he put in one of the most ruthless displays of the year.
Aspinall not only retained his interim heavyweight title in the highly-anticipated rematch against Curtis Blaydes but he finished off with American inside less than a minute, stunning spectators inside the arena who had stayed up waiting until 4am to watch him.
With that in mind, the global wrestling franchise decided to give the Co-op crowd another chance to see the man himself for a little bit longer.
As you can see, as a fellow fighter and champion at the top of his game, it only felt fitting that Aspinall be welcomed to the ring by the WWE‘s Cody Rhodes and the reaction was as you would expect.
Getting a much different entrance than his usual cage walk, the 31-year-old from Atherton with Salfordian roots and trained at the likes of Leigh Self Defence Studio got the home fans going and even helped do a bit of promo work in the ring with Rhodes and Austrian wrestler Gunther.
Helping set up for the impending Crown Jewel event – the inaugural new standalone face-off between their in-house Raw and SmackDown brands set to take place in Saudia Arabia – Aspinall did his best to whip up the audience.
To be honest, no disrespect to the very high-profile wrestlers who landed in 0161 this week, but we think plenty of those in the stands were more buzzing to Aspinall than anyone.
Just listen to that reaction:
Wow, Tom Aspinall showing up at a WWE show is awesome!
While we didn’t get to see the ‘Honey Badger’ get involved in any scraps on the night and his cameo didn’t go on for too long, it’s undeniably cool to see a local athlete once again basking in a much-deserved bit of the spotlight.
Moreover, the WWE is one of the biggest entertainment industries on the planet, so being given that platform is not only huge for him but for Manchester and the UFC‘s UK audience as a whole.
While Tom has been enjoying a well-earned break following his most recent victory, he did recently confirm that he is “ready to go” as a backup fighter for the upcoming Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic main event on the UFC 309 fight card.
If he were to be roped into the octagon for this one, it would finally see him come against legend Jones and give him a shot at earning the title of undisputed heavyweight champion. Now wouldn’t that be something special for the British fight scene?