Get your hopes up for a white Christmas, but not for a Christmas Day snowfall

Dan D'Ambrosio, Burlington Free Press
·2 min read

What are the chances we'll have a white Christmas in Burlington? Pretty good, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Rebecca Duell, who works in the Burlington office.

In the last five years, Duell said there's only been one year we've had no snow on the ground in Burlington on Christmas − in 2020, the annus horribilis.

"It was what you would picture in 2020," she said. "Sixty-five degrees with rain, snow depth zero. Not a good Christmas."

Now, if you're going to get greedy and demand not only that we have a white Christmas but also that we have an idyllic snowfall of big, fat flakes floating down from the sky on Christmas Day, your chances of being disappointed go up significantly.

The National Weather Service in Burlington has tracked whether Christmas was white or not since 1953.
The National Weather Service in Burlington has tracked whether Christmas was white or not since 1953.

In fact, in the last 70 years − yes, the weather service has tracked snowfall in Burlington on Christmas Day since 1953, as you'll see in the accompanying graphic − snow has been falling on Christmas Day in only six of those years. So roughly a 1-in-12 chance.

In 16 of the last 70 years, we had no snow on the ground and no new snow, like in 2020, Duell said. But in six of the last 70 years when there was no snow on the ground, there was new snowfall, so that's good. In 17 of the last 60 years, we've had 1 to 3 inches of snow on the ground on Christmas Day. Even better, in 31 of the last 70 years, we've had more than 3 inches of snow on the ground on Christmas Day.

Now that's a proper white Christmas.

Should you wish for seeing the full moon on Christmas or not?

The Old Farmers' Almanac is predicting a white Christmas for the mountains of New England but not the foothills, and points out there will be a Christmas full moon this year.

"December's full Moon rises on the 26th of December!" the almanac states. "It will be the first full Moon after the winter solstice, and falls right during Christmastime this year! Start looking Christmas Eve as the Moon will appear full to the naked eye."

Of course if you can see the full moon, that most likely means it won't be snowing. Oh well. You can't have everything.

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Burlington, Vermont, may have a white Christmas, full moon