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White Christmas odds for US cities

Across 119 cities, snow covered the ground on Christmas in at least half the years since 1950 in 17 of them. The highest is Marquette, Michigan at 94%, while 29 cities have never had one.

Snow covered the ground on 9% of Christmases in New York City (6 of 70); the most recent was 2024.

White Christmas map

A map showing 119 US cities. The best odds are in Alaska, the mountains, northern New England, and the upper Midwest; odds are near zero in the South.
Each dot is a city. Its color shows the share of white Christmases since 1950. Every city's figure appears in the table.

What counts as a white Christmas

A white Christmas requires at least 1 inch of snow on the ground for the morning measurement on December 25. That is the definition the National Weather Service and NOAA use. Snow falling during the day on bare ground does not count, and a dusting under 1 inch does not count either.

White Christmas odds by city

Each row gives the city, state, white Christmas share, Christmases on record, most recent white Christmas, and white Christmas counts for strong El Niño years.
CityState% white ChristmasesWhite / measuredLast whiteEl Niño years
MarquetteMichigan94%61 of 6520255 of 6
Sault Ste MarieMichigan92%68 of 7420255 of 7
DuluthMinnesota91%69 of 7620256 of 7
AnchorageAlaska90%66 of 7320257 of 7
CaribouMaine88%67 of 7620246 of 7
Tahoe CityCalifornia80%59 of 7420257 of 7
FargoNorth Dakota71%52 of 7320253 of 7
MinneapolisMinnesota62%47 of 7620252 of 7
SyracuseNew York61%46 of 7620240 of 7
ConcordNew Hampshire60%44 of 7320253 of 7
BurlingtonVermont59%45 of 7620252 of 7
Grand RapidsMichigan56%35 of 6320222 of 6
BismarckNorth Dakota54%41 of 7620221 of 7
MadisonWisconsin54%41 of 7620243 of 7
Green BayWisconsin53%40 of 7620241 of 7
FlagstaffArizona50%32 of 6420215 of 6
MissoulaMontana50%38 of 7620222 of 7
RochesterNew York49%37 of 7620241 of 7
PortlandMaine47%36 of 7620254 of 7
BuffaloNew York45%34 of 7620240 of 7
Sioux FallsSouth Dakota45%34 of 7620221 of 7
SpokaneWashington43%32 of 7520222 of 7
EriePennsylvania40%27 of 6820220 of 6
AlbanyNew York38%29 of 7620242 of 7
BillingsMontana37%28 of 7620232 of 7
Salt Lake CityUtah37%28 of 7620222 of 7
MilwaukeeWisconsin36%27 of 7620242 of 7
Cedar RapidsIowa35%26 of 7520222 of 7
DetroitMichigan34%23 of 6820220 of 6
WorcesterMassachusetts34%25 of 7320252 of 7
Des MoinesIowa33%25 of 7620224 of 7
ElkinsWest Virginia31%22 of 7220220 of 7
ClevelandOhio30%23 of 7620220 of 7
Fort WayneIndiana29%22 of 7620220 of 7
HartfordConnecticut28%16 of 5820210 of 5
ChicagoIllinois26%17 of 6620221 of 6
DenverColorado26%20 of 7620223 of 7
LincolnNebraska26%15 of 5720222 of 5
OmahaNebraska25%19 of 7520221 of 7
PeoriaIllinois25%19 of 7520222 of 7
Rapid CitySouth Dakota25%18 of 7320170 of 7
BoiseIdaho24%18 of 7620223 of 7
BostonMassachusetts20%15 of 7520241 of 7
PittsburghPennsylvania20%15 of 7620220 of 7
CheyenneWyoming18%14 of 7620212 of 7
ColumbusOhio17%13 of 7620220 of 7
HarrisburgPennsylvania17%13 of 7620090 of 7
IndianapolisIndiana17%13 of 7620220 of 7
Kansas CityMissouri17%9 of 5420221 of 5
TopekaKansas17%13 of 7620222 of 7
AllentownPennsylvania16%12 of 7520120 of 6
Colorado SpringsColorado15%11 of 7520111 of 7
CharlestonWest Virginia14%11 of 7620220 of 7
St LouisMissouri14%11 of 7620220 of 7
IslipNew York13%8 of 6220130 of 6
ProvidenceRhode Island13%9 of 7220210 of 7
CincinnatiOhio12%9 of 7620220 of 7
RenoNevada12%8 of 6820152 of 6
NewarkNew Jersey11%8 of 7620090 of 7
SpringfieldMissouri11%8 of 7520220 of 7
WichitaKansas11%8 of 7320220 of 7
BaltimoreMaryland9%7 of 7620090 of 7
New York CityNew York9%6 of 7020240 of 6
RoanokeVirginia9%7 of 7620200 of 7
AmarilloTexas7%5 of 7620041 of 7
KnoxvilleTennessee7%5 of 7120200 of 7
LexingtonKentucky7%5 of 7620220 of 7
LouisvilleKentucky7%5 of 7620220 of 7
WashingtonDC7%5 of 7520090 of 7
WilmingtonDelaware7%5 of 7620090 of 7
AshevilleNorth Carolina6%4 of 6720200 of 6
Atlantic CityNew Jersey6%4 of 6720090 of 6
PhiladelphiaPennsylvania5%4 of 7620090 of 7
RichmondVirginia5%3 of 6620090 of 7
SeattleWashington5%3 of 6420171 of 6
LubbockTexas4%3 of 7620110 of 7
NashvilleTennessee4%3 of 6819660 of 6
MemphisTennessee3%2 of 7019630 of 7
Oklahoma CityOklahoma3%2 of 7520090 of 7
TulsaOklahoma3%2 of 7620090 of 7
DallasTexas2%1 of 6620090 of 6
CharlestonSouth Carolina1%1 of 7619890 of 7
Corpus ChristiTexas1%1 of 6820040 of 6
EugeneOregon1%1 of 7619830 of 7
Fort WorthTexas1%1 of 6820090 of 6
GreensboroNorth Carolina1%1 of 7619660 of 7
Little RockArkansas1%1 of 7519630 of 7
PortlandOregon1%1 of 7620080 of 7
SavannahGeorgia1%1 of 7619890 of 7
WilmingtonNorth Carolina1%1 of 7619890 of 7
AlbuquerqueNew Mexico0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
AtlantaGeorgia0%0 of 73None since 19500 of 7
AustinTexas0%0 of 75None since 19500 of 7
BakersfieldCalifornia0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
BirminghamAlabama0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
CharlotteNorth Carolina0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
ColumbiaSouth Carolina0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
El PasoTexas0%0 of 65None since 19500 of 6
EurekaCalifornia0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
FresnoCalifornia0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
GreenvilleSouth Carolina0%0 of 64None since 19500 of 6
HoustonTexas0%0 of 57None since 19500 of 5
HuntsvilleAlabama0%0 of 61None since 19500 of 5
JacksonMississippi0%0 of 75None since 19500 of 7
JacksonvilleFlorida0%0 of 63None since 19500 of 6
Las VegasNevada0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
Los AngelesCalifornia0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
MedfordOregon0%0 of 70None since 19500 of 7
MidlandTexas0%0 of 75None since 19500 of 7
MobileAlabama0%0 of 75None since 19500 of 7
NorfolkVirginia0%0 of 56None since 19500 of 5
OrlandoFlorida0%0 of 71None since 19500 of 6
PhoenixArizona0%0 of 75None since 19500 of 7
RaleighNorth Carolina0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
San AntonioTexas0%0 of 72None since 19500 of 6
SarasotaFlorida0%0 of 74None since 19500 of 7
ShreveportLouisiana0%0 of 76None since 19500 of 7
TampaFlorida0%0 of 75None since 19500 of 7
WacoTexas0%0 of 68None since 19500 of 6

Snow depth from GHCN-Daily, Christmases 1950 through 2025

Under 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright attaches to the government-produced figures on this page, including reports, alerts, station observations, and normals, which were created by the National Weather Service and other NOAA offices. The notice that 17 U.S.C. 403 requires appears in this sentence. It does not imply endorsement by or affiliation with those agencies. See: Data sources and attribution.

White Christmas in El Niño years

For the 90 cities with a white Christmas in their records, a white Christmas came in 18% of strong El Niño years, against 28% in other years. The share was lower in 58 of them.

State-by-state El Niño winter measurements

How the odds are measured

Each city uses morning snow depth from one official GHCN-Daily station for Christmases 1950 to 2025. A city appears in the table when at least 50 Christmases have been measured at that station since 1950, and at least 8 of the most recent 10 were measured.