Dreaming Of A White Christmas?
By Kate Bilo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Three years ago, in 2009, our city enjoyed a truly white Christmas. Around eight inches of snow was on the ground, thanks to a snowstorm that blanketed the area a few days earlier. The last time it actually SNOWED more than an inch on Christmas Day was in 2002, when around an inch of snow came down, and the last time it snowed more than an inch on Christmas Eve was all the way back in 1966.
These numbers serve to illustrate that our chances at a White Christmas in the Philadelphia area aren't all that great. In fact, in any given year, we have less than a 1 in 5 shot at having snow on the ground or falling snow over the Christmas holiday. And this year looks to align with those odds.
Despite an active pattern this week leading up to Christmas, we are missing a very important factor: cold. This year is, once again, well above average temperature-wise for the month of December and looks to potentially be a Top 5 Warmest December. This means that any storm this week is producing rain, not snow, and once the cold air arrives over the weekend, high pressure settles and we're missing the moisture.
So while the storm on Thursday night into Friday will usher in a more seasonable, chilly airmass through the holiday, chances of snow look to be limited to flurries and maybe a few isolated snow showers - not enough to bring us a White Christmas this year.
