DENVER — It doesn't look like snow is in Denver's forecast on Christmas Day this year. So just how often do we see flakes on Christmas?
The National Weather Service (NWS) has been tracking snow data for more than a century, and white Christmases are actually pretty rare in Denver. But just how rare depends on your definition.
If you consider having snow blanket the ground a white Christmas, the National Weather Service says there have been 45 Christmas days with an inch of snow or more in the 122 years since snowfall measurement record keeping began in 1900.
This works out to about 37 percent of the time.
If you consider a white Christmas as snow falling from the sky on Dec. 25, the NWS, which uses 0.1 inches or more as a measurement for this particular statistic, says the white Christmas chances are only about 14 percent.
In history, this adds up to just 20 days in 140 years since snowfall measurement began in Denver in 1882.
According to the NWS, over the last 30 years, it has snowed on Christmas Day seven days or 23 percent of the time.
When it comes to having snow on the ground, one inch or more has been measured on Christmas Day in 13 of the last 30 years or about 43 percent of the time in Denver.
The most snow ever recorded on the ground in Denver on Christmas Day was 24 inches, which was measured after the Christmas Eve blizzard of 1982.
Top 5 greatest snow depths measured on Christmas in Denver since 1900
- 1982 — 24 inches
- 1913 — 19 inches
- 2006 — 15 inches
- 1973 — 11 inches
- 1918 — 11 inches
The NWS says the heaviest snowfall on Christmas Day was 7.8 inches in 2007.
5 greatest snowfalls in Denver on Christmas Day since 1882
- 2007 — 7.8 inches of snow fell
- 1894 — 6.4 inches fell
- 2014 — 3.4 inches fell
- 2015 — 2.3 inches fell
- 1912 — 1.7 inches fell
Coldest Christmas Days in Denver since 1872
- 1876 — -15°
- 1879 — -11°
- 1983 — -10°
- 1962 — -8°
- 1891 — -4°
- 1878 — -3°
- 1987 — -2°
- 1884 — -2°
- 2009 — -1°
- 2012 — 0°
Warmest Christmas Days in Denver since 1872
- 2005 — 69°
- 1971 — 66°
- 1955 — 66°
- 1961 — 65°
- 1946 — 65°
- 1929 — 65°
- 1950 — 63°
- 1980 — 62°
- 1963 — 62°
- 1959 — 62°
- 1889 — 62°
See a breakdown of all the data from the National Weather Service.
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