Fact Friday 77 – White Christmas in Charlotte
Image Credit: CLTBlog.com
Happy Friday everyone!
The Southern Christmas Show has come and gone and we’re officially in the Christmas season! Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? There are tons of events going on in the city to help you out if you aren’t. All you have to do is stay abreast to CharlotteAgenda.com. They keep track of pretty much everything. Also, be sure to check out Fact Friday #28, Christmas Town USA. #shamelessplug
I must admit that while I enjoy all the Christmas festivities, I’m not a big fan of winter weather. I’m one of those people that feel like only benefit of snow and ice is job closures. Cold weather is not my thing! But, for those of you that enjoy snow, if you are hoping for a white Christmas, NBC Chief Meteorologist, Brad Panovich has a blog where he discusses this very topic.
The news is not good, however. According to the blog, “getting show on Christmas in Charlotte is a very rare event.” A white Christmas is defined as having measurable snow on the ground or measurable snow falling on Christmas day. Weather recordkeeping in Charlotte began in 1878. As of last year, historically in the 137 years since, it has only snowed on Christmas day 11 times. That’s only 8% of the years, but 7 of those times it was only a trace, which technically doesn’t qualify as a white Christmas. To truly have a white Christmas you need accumulation.
Since 1878, accumulating snows have only occurred 4 times in Charlotte on Christmas day. Which means we have had a white Christmas just 3% of the years since records began in Charlotte. The most recent occurrence was 2010. It was the first white Christmas in 63 years and was the 3rd most snow on Christmas day on record. The all-time highest total was 5.8” on Christmas day 1947, which was also the last time we had a white Christmas before 2010. On top of Charlotte seeing a rare White Christmas most of the Southeast and parts of the mid-South were covered in a blanket of fresh snow by Dec 27th.
The return frequency of a white Christmas in Charlotte is once every 33.75 years. So given that we had one in the relatively near past, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
As a consolation, here's a cool video from YouTube user Steve Benson of Charlotte's last white Christmas!
Stay tuned to Brad’s blog for updates, though. It looks like he updates it with the latest “White Christmas” installment around the middle of December.
Until next week!
Chris.
Email me at chris@704Shop.com if you have interesting Charlotte facts you’d like to share or just to provide feedback!
Find all previous Fact Friday blog posts by clicking here.
Information taken from:
WXBRAD.com - White Christmas History in Charlotte (2014)
WXBRAD.com - White Christmas History for Charlotte… keep dreaming! (2015)
Additional commentary added.
“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” – Frederick Douglass