A snowy Christmas morning carries meaning in the festive season for several cultures. Several words could be used to name this phenomenon but a white Christmas is most common. The phrase has been popularized by a song Irving Berlin wrote in 1942. Having a white Christmas inspired Irvin Berlin, a reputable songwriter to write his classic “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”. The song was sung by Bill Crosby, an actor in the 1942 Holiday Inn film.

Despite the ideas of an ideal white Christmas, the reality is so much different. After years of global warming, even the northern hemisphere rarely experiences the December snow. Research from Betway Casino has shown that around four capital cities are the only remaining regions that might experience Christmas snow most often. Data shows that from 2009, these cities have had more than six snowy Christmas days.

The list of potential white Christmas cities includes Reykjavik, Tallinn, Nur-Sultan, and Moscow. Moscow leads all four capitals with nine snowfalls in the last 12 Christmases. Unlike these cities, London has barely had a white Christmas after the research started in 2009. For many parts of the UK, having a snowfall during Christmas remains a seemingly impossible reality.

To become more accurate with which capitals are more likely to have a white Christmas pertains to a huge task. The research team analyzes the amounts of snow within every city each December to plot a better prediction.

For instance, data shows that there was a big snowfall in Vaduz in 2012. The capital of Liechtenstein received 2.54 meters of snowfall throughout December.

Data also shows that other cities including Ottawa, Kyiv, and Oslo have had such highs throughout the December months after 2009. Results from the analysis of this data show that these capital cities are more likely to have snow on Christmas day.

Note that snow may fail to fall consistently. The volume is normally affected by different conditions during a specific year. Further on, changes in conditions can be attributed to global warming. Another effect of global warming is the change in the extremes of the weather. Areas can either become hotter or colder than average, more so causing particularly cold winters. For example in 2010 and 2012, some areas experienced more snowfall than usual. Other winters after that have only been milder.

Predicting weather patterns is currently very difficult with six capitals experiencing heavy snow in 2019 and 2018. The change was unpredictable since none of the six cities had had snow in 2017. Although the Christmas weather has become more unpredictable and extreme, only one southern city has recorded snowfalls since 2009. Dili, East Timor’s capital city sits 592 miles (953 km) from the equator to the south. Data shows the city has experienced several snowfalls.

Some experts claim that the current snowfall data collection system is flawed. This is because the data only shows capitals. Some are suggesting that measuring snowfall at different areas within a country will produce better results. Case in point Canada. Know fort their heavy snowfalls in winter, the country has recorded less than three snowy Christmases from 2009. The country’s snowfall differences in the several regions are rather significant. With Nova Scotia only having three white Christmases, a Canadian territory like Nunavut has had nine snowfalls.