Inside The All-Night Magic Of Groundhog Day

Christmas has arrived, and it wasn't a very snowy one for most of the country. A white Christmas was enjoyed by folks in the Midwest and mountain West, upstate New York and northern New England, while a major thaw melted away snowpack elsewhere in the Midwest and Northeast.

How it's defined: Meteorologists define a "white Christmas" as having at least 1 inch of snow on the ground Christmas morning.

It's snow cover, not falling snow, that counts. So, if there was no snow on the ground in the morning, but an inch of snow falls in the afternoon or evening, it doesn't count as a white Christmas.

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(MAP: Where Snow Cover Is Right Now)

Who Saw A White Christmas: This year's holiday snow cover was less than last year, which itself was less expansive than average, as only 26% of the country had snow on the ground, according to NOAA.

But a quick storm system did help out with a white Christmas in the Northeast, and the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains were able to hold onto just enough snow for a nice winter scene come Christmas morning.

(MORE: A Short History Of White Christmas)

Vanishing snow cover east of the Rockies: The snow cover on Christmas morning sure looked different than the weather we've seen recently.

Parts of the mid-Atlantic and I-95 corridor had their first snow of the season during the weekend of December 13-14. And it was a snowy stretch from the weekend after Thanksgiving into early December in a swath of the Midwest from Iowa and the Ohio Valley to the Great Lakes. Springfield, Illinois (18.9 inches) had its snowiest start to any "winter season" since 1893, with almost as much snowfall as they average an entire season through spring (21.8 inches).

Chicago's O'Hare Airport has picked up almost as much snow as they did all last season.

It was also one of the top 10 coldest first halves of December on record for several Midwest and East cities, including Green Bay, Wisconsin, Cleveland and Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center.

Snow is forecast to continue in parts of the Northeast into Wednesday, which could freshen up the snowpack in a few areas. Unfortunately, this won't leave much along the I-95 corridor from New York City southward.

Another round of light snow could arrive in far northern New England Christmas morning.

(MAPS: Daily US Forecast Rain, Snow)

Warmer trend: Then there was the general warming trend in much of the country this week (including portions of the snow-covered, recently cold Midwest).

In fact, beginning on Christmas Eve and continuing into the weekend, most of the Lower 48 is expected to be near or warmer than average.

Yes, there were some cold fronts leading up to Christmas. But these cold air intrusions were pinned to the far northern tier and weren't as potent or long-lasting as recent cold snaps.

Any significant cold will be limited to the tail end of December as we approach New Years.

(MAPS: Current Temps | 10-Day Forecast Highs/Lows)

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.