At a Glance
- A white Christmas is defined as 1 inch of snow on the ground on the morning of Dec. 25.
- The higher elevations of the West and areas near the Canadian border have the best chance of snow this year.
- Last Christmas morning had the least snow coverage since records began in 2003.
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Wishes for a white Christmas are growing as the holiday inches closer. Recent cold blasts in the eastern half of the United States have many hoping the pattern will be favorable for a blanket of snow on Christmas morning, but that may not be the case for much of the Lower 48.
So what is a white Christmas? It occurs when there's at least 1 inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning. It doesn't have to be snowing on the actual holiday for that to happen. A trace of snow also doesn't count.
White Christmas 2024 Forecast
It's no surprise that the best chance for at least an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning will be in some of the higher elevations of the West.
There is also a good chance of a white Christmas from North Dakota and northern Minnesota into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as well as parts of northern New England.
Following a blast of cold air in the East this weekend, the weather pattern will shift across the country Christmas week. That means milder air will spread from the West into the central states leading up to Christmas Day, resulting in a lack of widespread snowfall.
How Typical Is A White Christmas?
The map below shows the locations with a historical chance of a white Christmas in any given year. The chances are based on averages from 1991 to 2020.
There isn't much territory outside the Mountain West, the far northern tier and northern New England where the odds of a white Christmas are higher than 50%.
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Last year, just 17.6% of the Lower 48 experienced a white Christmas. This was the lowest percentage since records began in 2003. Outside of the West's higher elevations, there was an area of snow in the Central and Northern Plains and a few spots in the interior Northeast.
In 2022, 53% of the Lower 48 experienced a white Christmas, the highest percentage since 2009. Much of the West, Midwest and interior Northeast were covered in snow. This was mostly due to Winter Storm Elliott which brought widespread snow and bitterly cold temperatures.
On average, about 38% of the Lower 48 has snow on the ground on Christmas, according to 21 years of data compiled by the NOHRSC. Since 2003, those percentages have varied widely from year to year, from 17.6% in 2023 to a whopping 63% of the contiguous U.S. in 2009.
Regional Historical Odds
Let's take a closer look at various white Christmas statistics, including the yearly probability, the number of white Christmases in each city's historical record and the last time it happened.
The annual probability is based on data from the National Weather Service from 1991 to 2020.
Northeast
Not much snow was on the ground in the Northeast last Christmas; even areas where a white Christmas is more common like Syracuse and Buffalo did not have snow last year.
While there was no snow last year, New York City has seen up to 8 inches on the ground on Christmas (in 1912), and 7 inches is the top Christmas snow depth in Washington, D.C. (2009).
New England
A white Christmas was in short supply in New England last year.
Both Burlington, Vermont, and Caribou, Maine, had a brown Christmas in 2023, but have had more than 30 inches of snow on the ground in Christmases past.
The record snow depth in Boston on Christmas morning is 11 inches (1995). Concord, New Hampshire, has measured up to 26 inches on the ground (1970). Boston last had a white Christmas in 2009, while Concord had a few inches on the ground in 2021.
Midwest
The Midwest also did not have a white Christmas in 2023.
Marquette, Michigan, has a 96% chance of a white Christmas but it didn’t happen last year. It was a mild Christmas with temperatures near 60 as far north as Chicago.
Cleveland and Detroit have a top Christmas snow depth of 13 inches (in 2005 and 1951, respectively). Both last had a white Christmas in 2022.
Plains
A few white Christmas wishes came true in the Plains last year.
Pierre, South Dakota, had 2 inches on the ground, and 4.2 inches of snow fell during the day. However, Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota, and Bismarck, North Dakota, where white Christmases are more common, did not have snow last year.
In 2022, Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri, had an inch of snow on the ground for Christmas.
West
Parts of the West did have a white Christmas last year.
Billings, Montana, had an inch of snow on the ground in 2023. Their record Christmas snow depth is 9 inches in 1984.
Seven years ago, Seattle and Portland experienced their sixth white Christmas on record. Seattle had 2 inches of snow that Christmas morning.
In Alaska, Anchorage and Fairbanks unsurprisingly saw snow on the ground on Christmas morning last year, with 26 inches and 18 inches on the ground, respectively.
Yes, It Has Happened In The South
Christmas snow cover isn't just a northern thing. Some years, parts of the southern U.S. have marveled at the sight of a white Christmas. But it's been more than 10 years since a white Christmas was observed in much of the South.
The extensive cold and widespread snow reached as far south as Tennessee in 2022. A trace of snow was reported on the ground in 2022 in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Memphis, Tennessee. The greatest Christmas snow depth in Memphis (10 inches) happened in 1963, while Tulsa's record is 6 inches in 2009.
In 2020, a white Christmas was observed in Knoxville, Tennessee, (2 inches) and Roanoke, Virginia (1 inch). Nashville had a trace of snow on Christmas Day in 2020.
Three relatively recent events brought an unusual Christmas Day snow cover to parts of the South:
-In 2009, Oklahoma City had a snowstorm of record (13.5 inches), and one of only two white Christmases on record occurred in Dallas (2 inches).
-In 2004 in Texas, Corpus Christi had a record snowstorm (4.4 inches), and Brownsville (1.5 inches) had its first day of measurable snow since 1895. Brownsville is on the same latitude as Miami, Florida.
-In 1989, a pre-Christmas snowfall was followed by a strong arctic cold outbreak that brought both Charleston, South Carolina (4 inches), and Savannah, Georgia (2 inches), their only white Christmas. Jacksonville, Florida, missed a white Christmas by a day when an inch of snow fell Christmas Eve morning. It had melted by Christmas Day.
Linda Lam is a lead meteorologist at weather.com. Growing up in Massachusetts she developed a fascination for winter storms and hurricanes that led her to pursue a career in meteorology.
