When did it last snow in London?

When was the last time it snowed in London?

The last snow day was Tuesday 6 January, 270 days ago, and no snow or sleet day has been confirmed since (one unconfirmed report is listed above). The last sleet day was Friday 2 January. A wait of this length is normal between winters; the longest since 1996 are below.

Longest waits between snow days since 1996

When was London’s last white Christmas?

The Met Office calls it a white Christmas if a single snowflake is observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 December. For London that was once judged at the London Weather Centre (Wikipedia). Snow lying on the ground does not count.

Christmas Day at the airports since 1996

Nothing was reported on the other Christmas Days. In 2010 snow lay at 83% of UK stations on Christmas Day (Met Office), but none fell in London, so it was not a white Christmas here. The UK-wide verdict is always the Met Office’s.

Does it snow in London?

Yes, but not much, and it rarely stays. Snow was reported in every one of the last 30 winters, on 8 days a winter on average. Most of it falls in February (31%) and January (28%), then December (17%) and March (15%); November and April get about 5% each. At the airports it is often light and mixed with rain, while the hills of north London turn white.

Will it snow while you are here? We don’t forecast: see the Met Office forecast for London. The last time a Met Office station reported snow on the ground in London was 12 December 2022, when Northolt had 1 cm (Time Out, January 2025).

A snow day slows buses and trains, so plan indoor sights: the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the V&A are free (more in galleries and museums and free things to do), and Leadenhall Market is covered. If you take a black cab instead, check the likely cost with our taxi fare calculator. For rain, see when it last rained in London.

London snow records since 1996

Most snow days in a winter

33

2012/13

Fewest snow days in a winter

1

1998/99, 2001/02, 2013/14, 2015/16 and 2019/20

Longest run of snow days

13 days

20 February – 4 March 2005

Longest wait between snow days

395 days

10 November 2001 – 9 December 2002

Earliest snow in a winter

7 Nov

2006

Latest snow in a winter

15 Apr

1998

Longest snowfall at one airport

18½ hours

2 Feb 2009 (Heathrow), 30 Nov 2010 (London City), 1 Mar 2018 (Heathrow)

Hours of snow count the half-hourly reports with snow at one airport; they say nothing about depth. February 2009 brought the heaviest snow in 18 years (BBC), with more than 20 cm in parts of the London area (the Guardian; both via Wikipedia).

About this data

• London means three airport weather stations: Heathrow (23 km west; reports every 30 minutes around the clock, mostly automatic, with an observer when there is weather), London City Airport (13 km east; fully automatic since 2017, and only in opening hours before 2007) and RAF Northolt (21 km west-north-west; many reports by an observer; in our series from January 2000). None is in central London, and snow often whitens the higher northern suburbs when the airports report sleet or rain.
• Snow means snow, snow showers or snow grains reported falling. Sleet means rain and snow mixed; a sleet day is shown separately and never called snow.
• A snow day is a London calendar day (midnight to midnight) with two valid reports at one airport, or one at each of two. Automatic sensors sometimes report phantom snow in freezing fog, so a single report is shown but not counted. A report is valid only below 6 °C (automatic) or 8 °C (by an observer).
• These reports say snow was falling. They cannot tell whether it settled, or how deep it was.
• Dates can differ from the news: snow on higher ground can miss the airports, snow just before midnight belongs to the earlier day, and the Met Office counts days from 09:00 to 09:00.