Interesting Christmas weather in Pittsburgh | Hey Ray
Many people dream of a "White Christmas."
There have even been songs sung about it. I like white Christmases too, but did you know Christmas' weather history is much more interesting than just snow?
For starters, there is a 79° difference between the highest Christmas temperature and the lowest Christmas temperature! In 1895, the high temperature of Christmas Day was recorded at 67°. The coldest temperature was -12° in 1983. That day, the high was 0°.
Christmas does not always see precipitation as snow.
There has been rain on many Christmas days. The wettest Christmas Day was in 1944.
The liquid precipitation, which includes melted snow and rain, was 1.07". 1" of snow was included with the rain. The two precipitation types made for a really wet sleigh ride for Santa, though.
No one ever wrote a nice Christmas song about the wettest Christmas, so let's talk about White Christmases.
To be honest, they are not that common in Pittsburgh. A "White Christmas" is defined as an inch or more of snow on Christmas Day.
Using that definition, it has only happened 10 percent of the time. The last one was in 2020.
That Christmas was also the snowiest on record, with 5.1" falling that day.
If we have snow on Christmas Day, it is more likely that it is already on the ground.
Since 1948, 46 percent of the Christmases have had a trace or more on the ground.
Maybe Bing Crosby was singing about the snow that fell before Christmas.