White Christmas

Thank you Cathy for your comment on my prior post which gave me the idea for this post.

Many people dream of a white Christmas. If you want a 100% chance of having a white Christmas, without going to Alaska, the place to be in the United States is Stampede Pass, Washington is the place to be: it has the greatest statistical probability in the lower 48 states for having at least 5 inches of snow on December 25 (a 100 percent chance) and also the greatest chances for being snowed-in with at least 10 inches (a 96 percent chance).

There are other extreme places in the mountains, including in the mountains of Arizona where you will have snow each year at Christmas.

Without going to extreme mountain heights, other safe bets of a white Christmas in the United States include, any major town in Alaska, Marquette and Sault Saint Marie in Michigan; and Hibbing and International Falls and Minnesota. Each has a 100 percent statistical chance of having at least one inch on snow on the ground Christmas day.

Interestingly Flagstaff Arizona has a higher chance of snow (56%) than either Denver (50%) or Chicago (40%). The chances of us having snow on the ground for Christmas in Washington DC stands at 13%. When we lived in Iowa City we had a 50% chance. Louisville Kentucky has a 13% chance of snow which is about what it would be for Lexington and Wilmore.

In Canada, almost all of northern Canada can count on a white Christmas every year. This would include Nunavut, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, as well as the northern portions of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia. Quebec City is one city where the chances of a white Christmas is 100%.

As for regions, southern Ontario, six to eight of 10 Christmas are white. There is a 40 percent chance along the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia of a white Christmas and less than the 20 percent chance in the southwestern mainland of British Columbia and on Vancouver Island.

Those dreaming of a white Christmas might consider not only moving to Quebec City but also Thunder Bay where there is a 100 percent chance that the ground will be white during the holidays. Those two cities have had a perfect record for the past thirty years.

Winnipeg and Saskatoon have a 98 percent chance of having at least one inch of snow on the ground Christmas day. Ottawa has a 83% chance, Calgary has a 59% chance, Montreal 80% and Toronto is at 57%.

Of all our expended family is currently living, Denise and Erma in Portland have the highest chance of having a white Christmas year over year. Their chance of having a White Christmas is 83%.