www.washingtonpost.com Open in urlscan Pro
23.204.2.78  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

5.31.6
Accessibility statementSkip to main content

Democracy Dies in Darkness
SubscribeSign in
Discover how much snow your hometown gets during holiday seasons!





By Dylan Moriarty
37

When we depict winter holidays, often they’re accompanied by a blanket of snow.
How often does reality match that expectation? Depending on where you grew up,
the answer could be often, never, or that one year when you were a kid that
you’ll never forget.

The map below shows which areas have been the most snowy on Christmas (and other
holidays), between 1940 and 2023. “Snowy” means that either there was measured
snowfall on the day, or there was already snow on the ground.

City/town lookup



Holiday

Christmas


Share of Christmases with snowfall or snow on the ground since 1940

0%
100%
Washington12%
Download your postcardShare stats for your city

If you are looking for a (nearly) guaranteed snowy Christmas, it is hard to go
wrong celebrating in Alaska, within sight of Canadian-U.S. border, or near
mountain peaks.

Story continues below advertisement
Advertisement


If you did not grow up in these particularly snowy spots, you probably had
different expectations. Even in cities far to the North, holiday snow can vary a
lot from year to year.

Consider Entering your hometown and year of birth year for a look at which
childhood holidays years the holidays were met with frosty fluff.

SNOWY CHRISTMASES IN WASHINGTON, DC

Options
Select year of birth


Select a value


Snowy Christmases
1940s‘50s‘60s‘70s‘80s‘90s2000s‘10s‘20s

There are probably some snowy days you remember better than others — the
surprise blizzard that had you stuck on the highway, or the 20-inch drop that
shut down school for a day of snowball fights and sledding.

Story continues below advertisement
Advertisement


In places where snow is rare, perhaps you lived through the one occasion a
flurry that did take place. If you are in a city that has not seen holiday snow
since 1940. Even in cities it hasn’t happened yet, maybe this is the year you’ll
have a you’re just a few years off from a once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

AREAS WITH SNOW OR SNOWFALL ON CHRISTMAS, 1953

1940
2023

Washington


Daily snow records were downloaded from NOAA’s Global Historical Climatology
Network daily (GHCNd) database. Each record comes from individual weather
station on the given holiday date. For any given area, the records from the
closest weather station were used. For cities whose boundaries included multiple
records, the city was considered “snowy” as long as at least 35 percent of the
city’s area had snowfall or recorded snow depth.

Hawaii excluded from searchable cities, as the proximity of weather stations on
the higher elevations skewed the results towards “snowy” for multiple years.

Stations reporting no data for either snowfall or snow depth were left in the
data set, meaning some areas may have been ‘snowy’ but the station did not
record it. In the case where a station reported neither snowfall or depth, but
was surrounded by neighboring stations that registered either, the station was
also considered “snowy.” The analysis only includes weather stations with at
least 30 years’ worth of data and at least 182 days of recordings within each
year, the standard used by NOAA.

The date of Hanukkah in each year is the first evening where the holiday is
celebrated.

City boundaries from the U.S. Census Bureau. Shaded relief data was downloaded
from Natural Earth.

Editing by Reuben Fischer-Baum. Additional development by Luis Melgar and Harry
Stevens.


37 Comments
Dylan MoriartyDylan Moriarty is a graphics reporter and cartographer at The
Washington Post.@DylanMoriarty
Follow



Company
About The Post
Newsroom Policies & Standards
Diversity & Inclusion
Careers
Media & Community Relations
WP Creative Group
Accessibility Statement

Sections
Trending
Politics
Elections
Opinions
National
World
Style
Sports
Business
Climate
Well+Being
D.C., Md., & Va.
Obituaries
Weather
Arts & Entertainments
Recipes

Get The Post
Manage Your Subscription
Become a Subscriber
Gift Subscriptions
Mobile & Apps
Newsletters & Alerts
Washington Post Live
Reprints & Permissions
Post Store
Books & E-Books
Print Special Editions Store
Print Archives (Subscribers Only)
Today’s Paper
Public Notices

Contact Us
Contact the Newsroom
Contact Customer Care
Contact the Opinions Team
Advertise
Licensing & Syndication
Request a Correction
Send a News Tip
Report a Vulnerability

Terms of Use
Digital Products Terms of Sale
Print Products Terms of Sale
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Cookie Settings
Submissions & Discussion Policy
RSS Terms of Service
Sitemap
Ad Choices

washingtonpost.com © 1996-2024 The Washington Post
COMPANY
CHEVRON ICON

Diversity & Inclusion
Careers
Media & Community Relations
WP Creative Group
Accessibility Statement

SECTIONS
CHEVRON ICON

Trending
Politics
Elections
Opinions
National
World
Style
Sports
Business
Climate
Well+Being
D.C., Md., & Va.
Obituaries
Weather
Arts & Entertainments
Recipes

GET THE POST
CHEVRON ICON

Manage Your Subscription
Become a Subscriber
Gift Subscriptions
Mobile & Apps
Newsletters & Alerts
Washington Post Live
Reprints & Permissions
Post Store
Books & E-Books
Print Special Editions Store
Print Archives (Subscribers Only)
Today’s Paper
Public Notices

CONTACT US
CHEVRON ICON

Contact the Newsroom
Contact Customer Care
Contact the Opinions Team
Advertise
Licensing & Syndication
Request a Correction
Send a News Tip
Report a Vulnerability
Download the Washington Post App

 * About The Post
 * Policies & Standards
 * Digital Products Terms of Sale
 * Print Products Terms of Sale
 * Terms of Service
 * Privacy Policy
 * Cookie Settings
 * Submissions & Discussion Policy
 * RSS Terms of Service
 * Sitemap
 * Ad Choices

 * washingtonpost.com
 * © 1996-2024 The Washington Post




Already a subscriber? Sign in
END OF YEAR SALE


OUR YEAR-END SALE IS HERE.
SWITCH ON.

Subscribe for unlimited access to unmatched reporting. You can cancel anytime.
MONTHLY
50¢ every week for the first year
billed as $2 every 4 weeks
YEARLY
$120 $29 for the first year
 * Unlimited access on the web and in our apps
 * 24/7 live news updates

Add your email address
By creating your account, you agree to The Washington Post's Terms of Service
and Privacy Policy.

Card
View more offers