'No chance' of a white Christmas in Belgium this year

'No chance' of a white Christmas in Belgium this year
Credit: Pxhere

On Christmas Day, Belgium will have mild and rainy weather with maxima of 5 to 10 degrees, and no chance at all of a white Christmas, according to the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI).

The last time Belgium had a white Christmas dates back to 2010, and that will not change this year, according to David Dehenauw of the RMI.

"The weather models predict no snow for the coming weeks. The mild weather has won," he told De Standaard. "The weather models first gave the impression that there was a chance of that, but now it appears that the average temperatures will be around 9 to 10 degrees. That says it all, I'm afraid."

Between Christmas and New Year, too, the weather will remain mild and rainy.

Belgium has only had 11 white Christmases since the start of the measurements: the first one dates back to 1906. In the past 100 years, the phenomenon has only occurred seven times. Of course, there have been other occasions with snow on Christmas Day, but it fell too early, too late or too thinly.

According to the RMI, it only counts as a white Christmas if there is at least 1 centimetre of snow in Uccle by 8:00 AM on 25 December. Snow that remained on the ground the day before counts, but flakes that fall later in the day are ignored.


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