White Christmas versus Brown Christmas

Based on snow data at Rochester International Airport (RST), we have had a White Christmas in 40 of the last 50 years. A White Christmas, defined by the National Weather Service (NWS) is when there is, at least, one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning.

In only four of the last 50 years, we did not have any snow on the ground at all; the most recent of these years was just two years ago. The highest snow depth (the amount of snow measured on the ground at a given time) on Christmas at RST is 29″ back in 2010.

In 2023, we are set to break the streak of consecutive White Christmases at a whopping one year!! Temperatures will be well above average for this time of year (as they have been for the majority of the last few months).