The temperature is dropping, the festive season is fast approaching, and although Christmas is set to be very different amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there’s still one question on everybody’s lips.
Will it be a white Christmas this year?
For many of us, snow is synonymous with Christmas time and the phenomenon of a white Christmas is something that has been obsessed over for decades. We all know Bing Crosby famously dreamt of it, and it’s not uncommon to see movie/TV scenes, advent calendars and greetings cards all decorated with snow-filled landscapes of a white Christmas.
For most parts of the UK though, Christmas is only at the beginning of the period when it’s likely to snow.
Snow or sleet falls an average 3.9 days in December, compared to 5.3 days in January, 5.6 days in February, and 4.2 days in March.
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According to the Met Office, White Christmases were actually more frequent back in the in the 18th and 19th centuries before before the change of calendar in 1752, and with taking climate change into consideration nowadays, we are actually more likely to see snow between January and March than in December.
But when can we expect the first flakes to fall here in the UK this year? And what exactly are the odds of snow arriving on Christmas day?
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Here’s everything we know so far.
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What is a white Christmas?
When most of us think of a white Christmas, we picture blankets of snow covering landscapes for miles around, right? Well according to the Met Office though, a Christmas can in fact be white if at least one solitary snowflake falls in a specific location during the 24 hours of Christmas day.
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That’s it.
Traditionally, the Met Office would use its building in London to decide whether it had been a white Christmas.
However as the concept and popularity of betting has increased over the years, several other locations were added to the list, and these include:
Buckingham Palace
Belfast (Aldergrove Airport)
Aberdeen (Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen FC)
Edinburgh (Castle)
Coronation Street in Manchester
The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
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When was the last white Christmas in the UK?
According to Met Office figures, the last widespread white Christmas in the UK was in 2010, when 83% of weather stations recorded snow on the ground, and there was also a significant snowfall in 2009 when 13% of stations recorded snow or sleet falling, and 57% reported snow lying on the ground.
Although technically, the last white Christmas was on Christmas Day in 2015.
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A total of 10% of weather stations recorded snowfall, but none of it actually settled on the ground to create the classic snowy scene we’ve all come to know, and this was also the case in 2016, when 6% of stations recorded falling snow, and in 2015, when 10% of stations saw snow.
Perthshire in Scotland currently holds the record for the deepest snow figure, seeing 47cm of snow on 25th December 1981.
How likely is a white Christmas?
Although it’s actually quite hard to predict at this point, the Met Office say a snowflake has fallen somewhere in the UK on Christmas Day on 38 occasions in the last 54 years.
This means a Christmas is likely to be white at least every other year, on average.
Widespread snow is much rarer though, as there has only been a widespread covering of snow on the ground recorded at 40% of weather stations in the UK four times in the last 51 years, and forecasters won’t be able to predict an accurate forecast for Christmas Day until around five days beforehand.
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So the jury’s still out for snow in Manchester this year.
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What are the latest odds?
Regardless of the difficulty of early predictions, that hasn’t stopped the bookies from chiming in.
Those with their eyes on the prize may have seen that Ladbrokes’ has just shortened its odds for snow to fall anywhere in the UK on December 25 to 5/4 – down from 6/4 earlier this month, with Alex Apati – spokesperson for Ladbrokes – saying: “Punters dreaming of a white Christmas look destined to get their wish later this year as we strap ourselves in for a record-breaking cold winter ahead.”
Paddy Power seems to agree too, with its spokesperson Amy Jones admitting: “In the words of Game of Thrones, winter is coming and it seems we may be adding to the craziness of 2020 with snow at Christmas.”
And Coral have claimed that Edinburgh and Newcastle are the cities with the best odds and are most likely to see snow at Christmas with odds of 3-1, and spokesperson Harry Aitkenhead revealing: “Autumn’s been mild but winter looks wild. We have enjoyed a mild autumn but winter is going to arrive with some freezing temperatures.
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“We have slashed the odds to just evens [and] that it is our coldest on record.”
You can find more information via the Met Office website here.
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Didsbury favourite Rustik has confirmed its will sadly be closing this month
Danny Jones
West Didsbury favourite Rustik has sadly announced it will be closing for food after a decade at the end of this month.
The beloved Burton cafe and bar has been a staple of the tight-knit foodie neighbourhood since 2015, but now the independent Irish eatery has confirmed that the business will be shutting down permanently in less than a fortnight.
Confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, 17 September, the casual Manc restaurant and hangout informed their loyal followers of the unfortunate news.
Unsurprisingly, their social media has been awash with condolences, collective sadness and support for the local institution.
Posting across all of their accounts, Rustik wrote: “After an unforgettable 10 years on Burton Road, the time has come to close our doors. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come — never in a million years did we imagine Rustik would grow into what it became.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single one of you who walked through our doors and supported us along the way. We poured everything we had — our time, our energy, our lives into making Rustik a space for everyone. And what a ride it’s been.
“From the chaotic, beautiful brunch shifts to late nights dancing on tables to ‘Wagon Wheel’, pushing through the challenges of COVID and helping our community with meals during hard times— we’ve done it all, together.
“To our amazing staff, past and present: thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and the love you brought every single day. You helped build something truly special, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
“To the incredible musicians who filled our space with life — keep doing what you do. The noise complaints? 100% worth the unforgettable nights.”
The team go on to detail that the official closing date is Tuesday, 30 September, reiterating that it is “business running as usual until then” and urging fans to “come down, grab your last Rustik fix, and raise a glass with us one final time.”
Signing off with an emotional farewell, they add: “Lastly, a message close to our hearts: please support your local cafes, bars, and independents. Hospitality is tough right now, and they need your support more than ever.
“Thank you for the most incredible decade of our lives. It’s over and out from us.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted to see Rustik go and know how much it meant not only to the Burton Road community, but also to the Didsbury community, Chorlton and many other Greater Manchester natives.
Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
Emily Sergeant -
25th November 2020 
