Will it be a White Christmas in Dorchester?
Friday, December 11th, 2015Many of us want to know if it will be white Christmas in Dorchester. For many of us, snow is synonymous with this time of year. Bing Crosby famously dreamt of it, while adverts, advent calendars, movies and Christmas cards are all decorated with snow-filled scenes of a White Christmas.

However, for most parts of the United Kingdom, December is only at the beginning of the period when snow is likely to fall. We are more likely to see white scenes between January and March than in December with snow or sleet falling 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.
Photos from the past show us that Dorchester suffered from one of the worst winter spells in 1881 which was the heaviest fall for fifty years. Looking down The Grove from Top o’ Town. Hardy’s statue was to be placed in the trees, centre, more than 40 years later.


White Christmas in Dorchester 2010
The last widespread White Christmas in the UK was in 2010. This also included Dorchester which saw a great deal of snow fall in the week before Christmas Day.


The current mild weather and long range forecast doesn’t bode well for seeing a repeat of the snowy scenes that we’ve previously experienced, there have been much fewer frosts so far than in year gone by. Although snow has already fallen this year in many northern areas and on higher ground it would seem that Christmas in Dorchester will escape a white out…. for now!