To get snow, there has to be enough water vapour in the air to make clouds, and it must be cold enough (0°C) that snowflakes will form and not melt as they fall through the atmosphere to the ground.

In the UK, we commonly get snow when the wind is blowing from the north or north east (for example, from the Arctic or Siberia). This air is then warmed from below as it approaches the UK, and rises further when it hits the coasts, hills and mountains.

Once the air gets high enough, it cools again until it reaches the point where there is more condensation happening than evaporation – this makes clouds.

As the UK is surrounded by sea, there is always plenty of moisture in the air for cloud to form.

“It’s never too cold to snow in the UK,” says Dr Sylvia Knight, Head of Education at the Royal Meteorologist Society, “but it can be elsewhere in the world.”

“It can be too cold for snow in the centre of large land masses, such as Eurasia, Antarctica or North America, where the wind has not encountered enough water that can easily evaporate.”

Water vapour might be picked up over the oceans, such as the North Atlantic or Arctic ocean.

“The rate of evaporation from lakes and rivers, which may be frozen, is far slower than from oceans,” Dr Sylvia says. “The oceans change temperature far more slowly than the land does, and so are a source of water vapour all year round compared to places where there is a lot of frozen water.”

So, it’s not too cold to snow in other places – it’s just too dry!