Pittsburgh Weather: Do You Really Remember That Many White Christmases?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - If you remember when Christmases in Pittsburgh were "always white", I hate to break it to you, but you're dreaming!
First, let's define what an actual "White Christmas" is.
For a Christmas to be considered "white," an inch of snow needs to fall on Dec. 25. Most years, Pittsburgh falls short.
According to the National Weather Service's "Now Data," which looks at weather stats dating back to the 1870s, this only happens 14% of the time. That's it!
Now, let's just say asking for an inch of snow is asking too much.
Let's just look at "measurable snow," which is 0.1 inch of snow accumulation or greater for Dec. 25. One third of the Christmases were able to pick up that much Christmas snow, which still happens less than half of the time.
Okay, how about one more stat to try and "spot" Christmas some snow points!
Say there was already snow on the ground from previous snowfalls. Guess what? There is a stat for that, too! According the the National Weather Service's records, having a trace or more of snow on the ground on Christmas Day only happens 38% of the time.
The last time we were able to pull off one of these White Christmases was a couple of years ago, in 2017. That year we picked up 1.4 inches.
Before that, we had a White Christmas in 2002, 1995 and 1993. Since 1950, though, it has only happened six times, according to the records.
The snowiest Christmas Day(s) brought 3.5 inches of snow. This happened twice: once in 1909, and again in 1935. Since that year, we haven't had a Christmas Day with more than 1.9 inches of fresh snow.
So, what about this year? All the trends are saying it will take a Christmas Miracle to pull off a White Christmas this year, so keep dreaming.
Now I feel like the Grinch, after writing this article.
