Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Day snow stats for Winnipeg

Here are some Winnipeg Christmas snow stats looking at how often Winnipeg has had a White Christmas. These figures are based on snow on the ground measurements from Winnipeg airport from 1955-2002, and Charleswood from 2003-present. (Note that official snow on ground measurements start in 1955 at Winnipeg airport)


Christmas day snow on ground stats (Winnipeg since 1955)


Least snow on ground....... TR (1997) *
Most snow on ground......... 80 cm (1955)
Average snow on ground.... 16 cm
* Prior to 1955, there have been at least 3 Christmases with no snow on the ground in Winnipeg: 1939, 1913, and 1877

Last 10 Christmases..

2010 ......... 23 cm
2009 ......... 10 cm
2008 ......... 24 cm
2007 ......... 28 cm
2006 ......... 11 cm
2005 ......... 14 cm
2004 ........... 8 cm
2003 ........... 4 cm
2002 .......... 12 cm
2001 .......... 12 cm
2000 .......... 30 cm

Since 1955, there have been 7 Christmases in Winnipeg with 3 cm or less on the ground. There have been 6 Christmases with 30 cm or more on the ground (last one was Dec 2000). This year it looks like we'll end up with 2 or 3 cm on the ground Christmas Day, barring any unexpected snowfalls between now and Sunday. That will be the least amount of snow on Christmas day in Winnipeg since 1997 (although we had a paltry 4 cm in 2003).

Prior to 1955, there have been 3 Christmases documented in Winnipeg with no snow on the ground, although these are not part of the official climate record. They were 1939, 1913 and 1877. (Click here for a Winnipeg Tribune article on the rare "green" Christmas in 1939 in Winnipeg that year.) There was also reference made that in Dec 1834, the first snow of the season in Winnipeg fell on Dec 28th.. so it's possible Dec 1834 was also a brown Christmas (but then, we don't know what they considered the first significant snow back in 1834)

9 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to everyone on this blog!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Dan, Merry christmas to u too. I am going through some difficult times right now but I beleive the spirit of the season will change all of that within the coming months. Let's hope for a Merry White Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Merry Christmas to all from your southern neighbors. Weather not looking good for us (me) snow lovers....darn positive AO may linger for a long while.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Off topic but for anybody interested I did a bit of a write-up on Winnipeg thunderstorm days and how they've varied over the last 60 years (graphs and explanations). All my own words and own opinions. This is by no means an official scientific study so take everything with a grain of salt as, with any meteorological write-up, there are many variables and factors involved that were not accounted for so readers discretion advised! Hope you enjoy it anyways! Click my name for the link (or copy and paste below)

    https://sites.google.com/site/winnipegthunderstormdays/

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hope Santa does not get me a snowblower for Christmas. A lawnmower would be more useful :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Adam..

    Thanks for the info... interesting analysis. Where did you get all your thunderstorm data from?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dan GFK.. Hey Dan, you can always head up north to Winnipeg to see what 1" of snow looks like! :) Here's wishing you a cold and snowy second half of winter..

    All the best this holiday season everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Right off of EC's climate archive, looking at each day of the year and noting when thunderstorms were observed in the weather column (I explain how I gathered all the info in my write-up close to the end).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks Adam.. I saw that after I posted. Good work!

    ReplyDelete