White Christmas in Milwaukee
Are you hoping for a white Christmas? If so, you'll have to be patient as the ground is still bare and quiet weather conditions are expected through the weekend. As the days for snow tick tock away, let's take a look back at how common a white Christmas is for Milwaukee. To start, the definition of a white Christmas includes a snow depth of an inch, something that at the moment, we don't have. But over the past 120 years half of our Christmas days have been white, approximately 48 percent of the time. To be specific, there have been 59 occurrences of an inch or more of snow on the ground Christmas day. If we don't see a white Christmas this time around, it will be the first time since 2011.
Here's a look at the last 10 recent brown Christmas Eve and Christmas Day stats from the National Weather Service in Milwaukee:
| Christmas Eve | Christmas Day |
| 2011 | 2011 |
| 2006 | 2006 |
| 2004 | 1998 |
| 1998 | 1995 |
| 1996 | 1986 |
| 1990 | 1982 |
| 1986 | 1955 |
| 1982 | 1943 |
| 1971 | 1939 |
| 1946 | 1938 |
While it would seem that if Christmas Eve was brown, Christmas Day would also be brown, that wasn't always the case. For example, although ten years ago we were brown on Christmas Eve, it snowed on Christmas Day, just in time for a white Christmas in 2004!
Milwaukee climate statistics for Christmas Day are quite interesting. Take a look:
| Normal High: 30° |
| Normal Low: 18° |
| Normal Precip: 0.06\" |
| Normal Snowfall: 0.4\" |
| Warmest High: 61° 1982 |
| Coldest Low: -12° 1983 |
| Coldest High: -2° 1983 |
| Warmest Low: 45° 1936 |
| Most Precipitation: .96\" 2009 |
| Most Snowfall: 6\" 1909 |
| Highest Snow Depth: 25\" 2000 |
The \"Normal\" stats are derived from 1981-2010 data, but the extremes go back to the 1880s and 1890s.
What a difference a year makes when looking back to 1982 and 1983. We go from shorts weather in 1982 hitting 61° on Christmas Day to a shockingly cold following Christmas, where the high temperature only made it to -2°.
At the top of the blog I mentioned quiet weather through the weekend. However, the forecast for the week of Christmas does include several chances for wet weather. The biggest challenge coming up will be determining the precipitation type. Temperatures will rise to the upper 30s early next week, but lows will be in the 20s. That means if precipitation comes through during the day, rain is more likely, but if it comes overnight, we'll have snow. Right now, we can't guarantee a white Christmas, but it is still possible. We may be waiting right down to the wire on getting a white Christmas this time around. It's a forecast we'll be watching very closely in the days ahead.