The final countdown to Christmas Day is officially on with just a few days remaining to finish up shopping, wrap up all of the gifts, and prepare to settle in with family and friends to enjoy the holiday. While you may have a good idea of what’s waiting for you under the tree this year, what type of weather should Virginians be prepared for come Christmas Day?
After a bitter and early start to winter this year, Virginia’s chances of a white Christmas aren’t looking particularly strong in 2018. The Weather Channel’s maps forecasting the chances of a white Christmas show few areas across the U.S. that should consider the chances of at least one inch snow cover on Christmas morning to be a ‘likely’ outcome. Beyond that, weather services are predicting generally mild temperatures across the U.S., even in cities like New York City that tend to spark visions of snowflakes.
While a white Christmas seems to be out of the question for Virginia this year, that hasn’t always been the expectation. Treetopia, a Christmas tree retailer, recently released a study that provides a historical look at Christmas Day weather in a collection of cities across the U.S. Both Richmond and Virginia Beach are included in the study. The history of the weather conditions these two cities have experienced over the 50 years are not necessarily in line with what’s forecasted for 2018.
The study shows that the average Christmas temperatures in Richmond and Virginia Beach are 39℉ and 43.6℉, respectively. The coldest temperature each city has experienced in the last 50 years was a chilly 8.5℉ in Richmond and a surprisingly low 12.5℉ in Virginia Beach, both in 1983. While these temperatures are very cold by Virginia standards, they are nothing compared to the coldest Christmas documented in the study: a -12℉ in Minneapolis in 1996.
And most importantly, based on history often has each city been able to enjoy the splendor of a white Christmas? Of the last 50 Christmases, Richmond has seen some amount of snowfall 14% of the time. Virginia Beach has seen snow on Christmas in only 8% of the last 50 years. Of the snow they have seen, it hasn’t accumulated to much snowfall – the average Christmas Day snowfall comes out to 0 inches, so Virginia Beach residents shouldn’t expect more than flurries very often based on history. While Richmond has seen some accumulation in past years, their snow average also doesn’t amount to much at 0.08 inches on snow on average.
As everyone knows, Mother Nature is historically extremely difficult to predict so no weather outcome is impossible. With that in mind, we’ll continue to keep our Christmas wish of snow, even if it’s just flurries.
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