There’s nothing quite as beautiful as New York City under a blanket of white fluffy snow. Sure, the days following the snow are borderline miserable with black slush crowding the sidewalks and the pain of having to shovel it, but there’s no denying the magical feeling of waking up to a snowy white Christmas. Thanks to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association we know the odds… but they aren’t too good.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association created a map based on decades of data ranging from the average temperatures, precipitation, and other climate variables. It puts our chances of a White Christmas, with at least one inch of snow, at approximately 10-12%. Check out the map below:
The map goes from grey (no chance of snow) to white (guaranteed snow), it shows Brooklyn has 10% chance of an inch of snow on December 25, JFK at 12% and La Guardia at 12%.
However, the same can’t be said for our friends upstate as towns North of the city tend to be some of the best places to be historically if you’re hoping for a White Christmas.
Though NYC may not see a dazzling dust of snow on Christmas morning, holiday travel leading up to Christmas day is expected to be rather hectic with impacts of ‘bomb cyclone’ traveling to the Northeast.
If you’re interested in exploring more of the historical data on year’s NYC had a White Christmas for yourself, WNYC has a handy interactive chart. Check it out:
According to WNYC, NYC gets a white Christmas about every six years.
The National Weather Service & AccuWeather both predict high winds and heavy rain up until Christmas day which is forecasted to be partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain and a possible high in the 30s.
So though a white Christmas isn’t completely off the table—it’s appearing pretty unlikely. And if no snow falls at Christmas, AccuWeather predict possible snowfall early in the new year.
Also published on Medium.