On top of family bonding and prime gifts from your painstakingly long wish-list, another big indicator of a successful Christmas is snow. And this year, the U.S. experienced the most widespread White Christmas in five years.
According to Weather.com, almost half of the contiguous U.S. (the Lower 48 continental states) had at least one inch of snow on Christmas morning. This included areas from New England and the Great Lakes region to the Plains and the Pacific Northwest.
NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center reported that, as of 1 a.m. EST Christmas Day, 49.2 percent of these states got snow, compared to 44 percent last year and an annual average of about 38 percent.
Last-minute flurries graced Kansas City and Des Moines (with one inch) as well as Chicago and Denver (with two inches). Seattle experienced a rare White Christmas, it’s first since 2008 and only its sixth since the 1890s.
Measurable snow on Christmas Eve in Seattle is a rare event. Since the 1890’s here the complete list…
1. 2.6″ 2008
2. 2.5″ 1926
3. 1.5″ 1911
4. 0.8″ 1965
5. 0.4″ 1902
6. 0.3″ 1971We will add 2017 to the list with the final numbers at little after midnight. #wawx
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) December 25, 2017
Due to a lake-effect blizzard, Erie, Pennsylvania received 34 inches on Christmas Day, and the storm hit the area with 19 more before Tuesday morning, totaling 53 inches of snow. This shattered all previous records.
Erie, PA received 34″ of snow on Christmas Day! This is a new all-time daily snowfall record. The previous record was 20″ set on 11/22/56. For reference, the greatest 3-day snowfall in Erie was 30.2″ (12/29-31/2002), greatest 7-day snowfall is 39.8″ (12/27/01-1/2/2002) #pawx
— NWS Cleveland (@NWSCLE) December 26, 2017
In honor of this extensive winter wonderland, here’s a look at what Christmas-goers around the U.S. got to witness:
Woodinville, Washington
Chicago, Illinois
Columbus, Ohio
Ridgefield, Connecticut
Garden City, Idaho
Erie, Pennsylvania
Springwater, New York
Portalnd, Oregon
Farmington, Utah
Denver, Colorado
Bayfield, Wisconsin
