England’s World Cup Chances Warm Up As Snow Is Predicted
Following England’s 3-0 victory over Senegal in the World Cup round of 16, the Three Lions have become 7/1 fourth favorites to take the competition for the first time since 1966. If the famous FIFA World Cup Trophy returns to England, the Sports Personality of the Year award will undoubtedly go to a member of the winning squad.
Should the Three Lions have a deep run in the World Cup, England fans are sure to vote for a member of the national team in Sports Personality of the Year. ©GettyImages
And forget LadBaby claiming a fifth consecutive Christmas number-one song. A football anthem of some kind – probably David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, and The Lightning Seeds ‘Three Lions (It’s Coming Home For Christmas)’ – is sure to top the charts.
Can the nation overcome France and then shorter-priced teams like Brazil and Argentina? A deep run could be enough to see UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Golden Boot winner, Beth Mead, dislodged as the favorite for Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY).
A Semi Will Be Good Enough
It is difficult to confidently predict which player or players will be put forward by the BBC’s selection committee. But a Word Cup semi-final appearance (or better) should guarantee at least one England star will be amongst the shortlisted SPOTY candidates. The team captain, Harry Kane, can currently be backed at 12/1 with the leading UK bookmakers.
Marcus Rashford is 25/1 with Coral, Bukayo Saka is 33s and Jude Bellingham is available at 40/1 with bet365. With so many potential candidates, and if you think England will continue its winning ways, our simple advice is to lay Beth Mead at 1.25 in the SPOTY market at the Betfair betting exchange.
The 2022 Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday, December 21st. Four days later the eagerly anticipated ‘will it snow on Christmas Day?’ market will mature.
Is the Snow Coming Home for Christmas?
A cold snap – like the one set to besiege the UK this week – would normally lead to newspapers running ‘bookmakers have slashed the odds on a white Christmas’ stories. Thankfully World Cup news, updates, and World Cup betting is taking priority.
This hysteria means an excellent article recently reproduced by the Met Office is likely to be overlooked. It suggests a white Christmas in parts of the UK is very possible in 2022.
“Christmas is only at the beginning of the period when it is likely to snow. We are more likely to see snow between January and March than in December, with snow or sleet falling an average of 3.9 days in December, compared to 5.3 days in January, 5.6 days in February, and 4.2 days in March,” the item begins.
“White Christmases were more frequent in the 18th and 19th centuries, even more so before the change of the calendar in 1752. It effectively brought Christmas Day back by 12 days. Climate change has also brought higher average temperatures over land and sea. And this has generally reduced the chances of a white Christmas.”
A Snowflakes Chance of a White Christmas
But that is where the bad news for supporters of a white Christmas end. “The definition that the Met Office uses to define a white Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25th somewhere in the UK,” says the Met Office.
4/1 is available about snow falling over Edinburgh Airport on December 25th. ©GettyImages
The Dickensian scene of widespread snow lying on the ground on Christmas Day is not necessary for ‘snow on Christmas day’ bets to be settled as winners. This scenario is rare. There has only been a widespread covering of snow on the ground (where more than 40 percent of stations in the UK reported snow on the ground at 9 am) four times since 1960: 1981, 1995, 2009 and 2010.
“Traditionally, we [the Met Office] used to use a single location in the country to define a white Christmas, which was the Met Office building in London. However, with the increase in betting on where we will see a white Christmas, the number of locations has increased.”
The current betting – using the best prices from the leading white Christmas betting sites – on specific places having an ‘observed snowflake’ falling is as follows: Glasgow Airport 3/1, Aberdeen Airport 4/1, Edinburgh Airport 4/1, Belfast Airport 5/1, Birmingham Airport 6/1, Liverpool Airport 6/1, London City Airport 6/1, Manchester Airport 13/2.
What Is the White Christmas Form?
Technically, 2021 was the last white Christmas in the UK with six percent of stations recording snow falling. However, less than one percent of stations reported snow lying on the ground. 2020 was also a white Christmas. This time six percent of weather stations recorded falling snow.
Previously, 2017 saw 11 percent of weather stations recording snow falling but none reported snow lying on the ground. This was also the case in 2016 – when six percent of stations recorded falling snow – and in 2015 when 10 percent of stations saw snow. There was no record of snow falling at any UK weather station in 2018 or 2019.
Forecasting Snow for Christmas 2022
Since 1960, around half of the years have seen at least five percent of the network record snow falling on Christmas Day. It means we can probably expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be white Christmases.
The Met Office says it can accurately forecast if snow is likely on any given Christmas Day up to five days beforehand. Long-range forecasts are far less accurate but certainly work as a helpful guide. For the period December 10th to 19th, the executive agency has issued the following outlook:
“Cold weather is expected to continue through at least the first part of this period, with widespread and locally severe overnight frosts. Many coastal regions will see periods of wintry showers, with snow most likely on high ground but perhaps also to lower levels at times in these areas.”
“Inland areas, by contrast, should see more in the way of fine and dry weather with the potential for some crisp, sunny days, although more limited spells of rain, sleet, or snow cannot be ruled out. As time goes on, there is an increasing chance of milder air spreading from the southwest bringing longer periods of rain, with the potential for more widespread snow for a time on its leading edge, but low confidence as to when this might occur.”
