One thing I’ve always enjoyed about living in Michigan is that we are virtually guaranteed to have a white Christmas each year. This is in stark contrast to western Washington where I grew up where a white Christmas was a relatively rare event. In fact, to make the locals feel better, one of the popular songs on the radio play lists during the holidays is “Christmas in the Northwest is a gift God wrapped in green.” Actually, He usually wraps it in grey fog or drizzle but hey, it’s a nice sentiment.
And for the Great Lakes region and much of the eastern US, a white Christmas may not turn out to be such a sure thing after all. Snowfall in the East is way off compared to last year. According to data from National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/index.html?region=Northern_Great_Lakes&year=2011&month=12&day=14&units=e , only about one-third (33.7%) of the Great Lakes region had snow cover as of last week and the average depth was only 0.9”.
This is quite a difference from a year ago in mid-December when 99.7% of the Great Lakes region was covered with an average of 9” of snow.
Of course, this is Michigan and things can change in hurry. But right now the forecast for the next couple days is for temps in the upper-30’s and low 40’s. There’s a chance of snow showers on Saturday so we’ll keep our fingers crossed and hang our hats on a Christmas eve snow for our White Christmas.
May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!
Hrumph… We get a white Christmas about every 10 to 15 years and then it’s usually an inch or so of slush. I’ve seen it in the 70s here on the big day. Makes for good travel conditions and outdoor fun with the (not snow sleds) toys.
SandyG, I’m a sentimental old fool; love to see one the ground (even better if it’s falling) on Christmas. Now, come February and March, THAT’S a different story!
Here in central VA we’ve had two consecutive white Christmas’s, which even having one is very rare. Not this year with rain in the forecast through Sunday. As a note, NWS defines a white Christmas as having at least an inch of snow on the ground at 7:00a.m. or having snow fall on that day with accumulation. I think long-term, the GL region looks good for snow. There’s an impressive snowpack in Canada and once that cold air pushes south, fun time are ahead for much of the Midwest up into the Great Lakes.
In the last years the snow fall in Europa is very low. We miss snow on Christmas.