Maybe snow on the ground is among your Christmas wishes this year.

(MORE: Winter Storm Central | Your Typically Snowiest Month | Your Coldest Time of Year)

Meteorologists define a white Christmas as one in which there is at least one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning. It doesn't have to be snowing on the holiday for that to happen, of course.

Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

(NATIONAL DAILY FORECAST MAPS: Rain/Snow | Highs and Low Temperatures)

How Typical is a White Christmas?

The map below indicates where there is the best chance for a white Christmas in any given year, based on climatological averages over the last three full decades.

You may be surprised to see there isn't a lot of territory outside the mountain West, northern New England and the far northern tier where the chance of a white Christmas is better than 50/50.

Christmas 2015 was particularly "brown" in typically snowy parts of the Great Lakes and northern New England.

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, had only its third Christmas without any snow cover in records dating to 1931. 

No natural snow cover was detected on Christmas morning in the Adirondacks, Green or White Mountains in 2015.

On average, about 38 percent of the Lower 48 States has snow on the ground on Christmas Day, according to 13 years of data compiled by NOAA's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC).

Since 2003, those percentages have varied widely from year to year, from just over 21 percent in 2003 to a whopping 63 percent of the contiguous U.S. in 2009.
 

Yes, It's Happened in the South

Christmas snow cover isn't just a northern thing. Some years, parts of the southern U.S. have marveled at the sight of a white Christmas.

(MORE: 5 Weirdest White Christmases)

Three relatively recent events brought an unusual Christmas Day snow cover to parts of the South:

• 2009: Oklahoma City's snowstorm of record (13.5 inches) and one of only two white Christmases on record in Dallas (2 inches).
• 2004: Snowstorm of record in Corpus Christi, Texas (4.4 inches) and first day of measurable snow since 1895 in Brownsville, Texas (1.5 inches), which is the same latitude as Miami.
• 1989: A pre-Christmas snow followed by a bullish Arctic cold outbreak gave both Charleston, South Carolina (4 inches), and Savannah, Georgia (2 inches), their only white Christmas. Jacksonville, Florida, missed a white Christmas by one day, with an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Eve morning.

Regional Historical Odds

In case you're curious, here are various white Christmas statistics, including the yearly probability, the number of white Christmases in each city's historical record, the last white Christmas, and the most snow on the ground on Christmas morning.

All statistics are courtesy of the National Weather Service.

Northeast

Avg. Percent Chance

Number of White Christmases 

Last White Christmas (Depth)

Albany, NY

37

33 since 1938

2009 (1 inch)

Baltimore

10

15 since 1905

2009 (6 inches)

Boston

8

27 since 1872

2009 (4 inches)

Buffalo, NY

60

71 since 1893

2013 (2 inches)

Burlington, VT

63

71 since 1896

2014 (2 inches)

Caribou, ME

87

All but 6 since 1940

2015 (3 inches)

Concord, NH

64

All but 22 since 1942

2014 (2 inches)

New York City

10

15 since 1912

2009 (2 inches)

Philadelphia

7

7 since 1948

2009 (8 inches)

Pittsburgh

33

20 since 1948

2010 (2 inches)

Providence, RI

15

48 since 1904

2009 (5 inches)

Syracuse

63

55 since 1922

2013 (3 inches)

Washington

7

13 since 1893

2009 (7 inches)

Midwest

Avg. Percent Chance

Number of White Christmases 

Last White Christmas (Depth)

Chicago

43

53 since 1884

2010 (5 inches)

Cincinnati

20

16 since 1916

2010 (4 inches)

Cleveland

50

51 since 1893

2013 (1 inch)

Detroit

43

28 since 1948

2012 (1 inch)

Indianapolis

30

33 since 1898

2010 (5 inches)

Louisville

17

17 since 1900

2010 (1 inch)

Marquette, MI

93

All but 4 since 1948

2014 (18 inches)

Milwaukee

43

61 since 1893

2013 (10 inches)

St. Louis

33

21 since 1893

2010 (3 inches)

Plains

Avg. Percent Chance

Number of White Christmases 

Last White Christmas (Depth)

Bismarck, ND

80

All but 15 since 1948

2015 (5 inches)

Des Moines, IA

40

37 since 1939

2015 (1 inch)

Duluth, MN

97

All but 4 since 1916

2015 (5 inches)

Kansas City

23

25 since 1893

2013 (4 inches)

Mpls./St. Paul

80

84 since 1899

2013 (9 inches)

Omaha, NE

37

25 since 1948

2015 (7 inches)

Pierre, SD

57

43 since 1941

2015 (2 inches)

Wichita, KS

27

13 since 1951

2013 (2 inches)

West

Avg. Percent Chance

Number of White Christmases 

Last White Christmas (Depth)

Anchorage

93

All but 3 since 1953

2015 (2 inches)

Billings, MT

37

38 since 1937

2015 (2 inches)

Boise, ID

37

19 since 1940

2015 (1 inch)

Casper, WY

43

27 since 1948

2015 (2 inches)

Denver

68

31 since 1921

2015 (1 inch)

Fairbanks, AK

100

All but 1 since 1929

2015 (12 inches)

Great Falls, MT

43

39 since 1933

2015 (3 inches)

Salt Lake City

67

36 since 1948

2015 (1 inch)

Spokane, WA

67

64 since 1893

2015 (11 inches)

Tahoe City, CA

86

All but 12 since 1938

2015 (17 inches)

South

Avg. Percent Chance

Number of White Christmases 

Last White Christmas (Depth)

Amarillo, TX

20

7 since 1948

2009 (1 inch)

Knoxville, TN

4

5 since 1910

2010 (2 inches)

Little Rock, AR

3

4 since 1876

2004 (1 inch)

Lubbock, TX

7

4 since 1911

2011 (2 inches)

Memphis, TN

7

4 since 1928

2004 (2 inches)

Nashville, TN

5

5 since 1948

2010 (1 inch)

Oklahoma City

7

3 since 1951

2009 (14 inches)

Richmond, VA

4

6 since 1897

2009 (2 inches)

Roanoke, VA

13

14 since 1935

2009 (5 inches)

Tulsa, OK

13

5 since 1948

2009 (6 inches)

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Christmas Trees Around the World