Will We See Snow on Christmas in San Angelo?

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Thanksgiving week is here and that means it is time for the holiday season! We'll soon be hearing Christmas music on the radio and songs like "White Christmas" will soon fill the airwaves here in the Concho Valley.

So, that song got me thinking? What are the chances we will have a white Christmas in San Angelo? We didn't have one last year, but two months later we got plenty of snow with the lights out when the "Snowpocalypse" hit the Lone Star state and wreaked all kinds of havoc.

I don't want to have all that happen again (please ERCOT keep the power going), but it would be nice to get the snow part on December 25th.

Well, if you don't know, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have calculated the historical odds of a white Christmas for San Angelo. But before we get to that. Let's examine what NOAA considers a white Christmas. According to NOAA web site:

First, let's define a "White Christmas". The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) defined a White Christmas as: "a snow depth of at least 1 inch observed on December 25th." This does not mean it must snow on Christmas. What it does mean is that it must either snow 1 inch on Christmas or 1 inch of snow from a previous day must still be on the ground.

So, with that in mind, here is a map of the U.S. looking at the historical odds of a white Christmas for the country courtesy of NOAA.

As you can see, the percentages are low for us here in the Concho Valley. In fact, based on 107 years of historical data, NOAA calculates the odds of a white Christmas in San Angelo at 1.87%.

So, if I were a betting man, I would bet against a white Christmas in San Angelo using past climate data from NOAA.