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Dreaming of a White Christmas?


us probabilities northeast probabilities

Probabilities of a white Christmas for select US and Northeast cities.

In a year that has been anything but normal, you may be dreaming of a white Christmas to brighten the holiday season. We’ve calculated the probabilities for an inch of snow on the ground on December 25th, based on data from 1970-2019, for select U.S. and Northeast cities. Fairbanks, Ak tops the list with 100% probability, followed by Duluth, MN with 96% and Pinkham Notch, NH with 91%. Some other areas with promising probabilities are Caribou, ME (90%), Grand Forks, ND (84%), and Watertown, NY (80%).

If you’d rather not see white, there are plenty of cities that usually don’t have a white Christmas. Huntsville, AL, Augusta, GA, Las Vegas, NV, Raleigh, NC, and Columbus, SC have not had an inch of snow for Christmas for the last 50 years.

Currently a fair amount of the U.S. has snow cover and the Northeast recently received a blanket of snow from a winter storm.

snow map

Snow cover as of December 16th, these maps were produced by the NOAA, National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center.

But will it last? NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center’s outlook for December 23-27 favors above-normal temperatures for Alaska and the western half of the contiguous U.S., as well as Maine. The outlook favors below-normal temperatures for most of the Great Lakes and eastern contiguous U.S. We’ll need below-freezing temperatures for the snow cover to last and our dreams of a white Christmas to come true!

temp outlook map

Temperature outlook for December 23-27.

Whether your Christmas is white or green, or something in between, we wish you a happy holiday!