The Weather on Christmas Day

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An extract from the Royal Cornwall Gazette, 31st December 1841

It is a curious as well as a remarkable fact, and one well worthy of being recorded in the annals of meteorological science, that, with the exception of Saturday last, there has not occurred a wet Christmas day for at least 14 or 15 years, or indeed one during that period upon which even a shower of rain has fallen. Of 14 Christmas-days which have occurred since the year 1826, four (viz., those of 1827,1831, 1832, and 1833) were, generally speaking, dull and gloomy with, however, a mild temperature. Two' Christmas-days (viz., those of 1834 and 1837) were excessively fine and mild, and the latter was, as most of our leaders will recollect, more like an April than a December day, so warm and genial was the temperature. Two (vis., those of 1838 and 1839,) were dry and cold, without there, however, being any severe frost. On Christmas-day, 1836, there was a heavy snow-storm, which lasted several days, and caused serious obstructions in the roads and lanes throughout the country. On the Christmas-days of the years, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1835, and 1840, a hard frost prevailed, which was especially severe in the second-mentioned year. But we can with safety affirm that no rain fall on any one Christmas-day which occurred between the years' 1836 and 1841 exclusive. Last Saturday, however, the spell was broken, as it were. The morning was wet, and about 3 o'clock in the afternoon a heavy shower of rain fell, which rendered- the ground exceedingly sloppy and spongy. The last wet Christmas- day which we can recollect occurred in the year 1826.