The cold frosty Christmas of 1961

The second half of December 1961 was very cold with frequent severe frosts but there was little snow because high pressure had dominated the weather in the run up to Christmas 1961. On Christmas Day, itself, the UK was between two lows, one over Scandinavia and the other over the Azores and two high pressures, one over Greenland and the other over central Europe. An easterly flow was across the south of the UK and this brought very cold dry air from the near continent, these areas woke up to a very severe penetrating frost. In the north, a cold front from the Scandinavian low was coming into the far north of Scotland bringing with it a northerly flow and snow showers and as a consequence these areas had a white Christmas.
The Azores low would approach the SE of the UK in the run up to the New Year introducing heavy snowfalls and later a northerly flow to all parts of the UK. Depths of snow would reach 30-40cm in some parts, giving a white New Year to many places.

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