Dreaming of a white Christmas? Here’s where you can expect a snowy holiday
There are about a dozen places in the lower 48 states where the chance for a white Christmas is at almost 100%, including Crested Butte, a ski resort town in the Colorado Rockies, according to 30 years worth of snowfall data.
Climate scientists released a map showing the places where people have the best chances of seeing at least an inch of snow on the ground for Christmas Day 2019. An inch is the amount of snow the scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration consider enough for a white Christmas.
“Most of Idaho, Minnesota, Maine, Upstate New York, the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and, of course, the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada Mountains all have a high probability of seeing a white Christmas,” NOAA said.
The map uses climate data from 1980 to 2010, according to NOAA. The data is updated every decade to show 30 years of climate averages and will be updated again next year, according to NOAA.
“While the map shows the climatological probability of snow-covered ground on December 25, the actual conditions this year may vary widely from these probabilities because the weather patterns present will determine if there is snow on the ground or if snow will fall on Christmas Day,” NOAA said.
Actual reliable forecasts for snow on Christmas Day won’t be available until a week or less before Dec. 25, but you can check weather.gov for those local forecasts as Christmas gets closer.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 12:11 PM.
