White Christmas History in Charlotte
Here’s a look at all the snow that has ever been recorded on Christmas day in Charlotte since records began back in 1878.
If you were hoping for a white Christmas in Charlotte this year I suggest looking at pictures and videos from 2010. Getting snow on Christmas in Charlotte is a very rare event.
That’s why the white Christmas of 2010 was so special to so many residents of the area. Historically in 142 years of weather records in the city it has only snowed on Christmas day 11 times. That’s only about 8% of the years, but 7 of those times it was only a trace which technically doesn’t qualify as a white Christmas. To truly have a white Christmas you need accumulation. Accumulating snows have only occurred 4 times in 142 years in Charlotte on Christmas day. This means just 2.8% of the years since records began in Charlotte we have had a white Christmas. So 2010 was the first white Christmas in 63 years and was the 3rd most snow on Christmas day on record. The all-time highest total was 5.8” on Christmas day 1947. This was also the last time we had a white Christmas before 2010. On top of Charlotte seeing a rare White Christmas most of the Southeast and parts of the mid-South were covered in a blanket of fresh snow by Dec 27th.
The return frequency of a white Christmas in Charlotte is once every 36 years.
Christmas Weather History for Charlotte, NC:
Warmest Christmas Days on record:
The funny thing is we are more likely to have 70° on Christmas day than white Christmas based on our history. We’ve had highs at 70° or higher 5 times on Christmas day and only 4 times a white Christmas.
Based on history alone there has only been a white Christmas in Charlotte 3% of the time since records have started in 1878.
Coldest Christmas Days on record.
What About This Year?
Right now there doesn’t appear to be anything pointing to snow or even that cold on Christmas day. Mind you we are still over 2 weeks out and the details of such a forecast are not really clear until about 7-10 and finer details until about 3-5 days. That being said at this time range I look for a larger pattern signals that would make me believe it would be at least colder or warmer than average.
