Christmas Climatology for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) defines a White Christmas as a snow depth of at least 1 inch observed on December 25.  This does not mean it must snow on Christmas, but rather, it means that it must either snow 1 inch on Christmas or 1 inch of snow from a previous day must still be on the ground.

On any given year, what is the probability of seeing a White Christmas in the Panhandles?  The map below shows the probabilities to be less than 10 percent across most of the area, but there are a few locations that have a probability between 10 and 25 percent.  This does not mean is that there is a 10 percent chance of a White Christmas occurring every year over the Texas Panhandle.  Instead, what it does mean is that a White Christmas has been observed ~10 percent of the time across our area.  At Amarillo, a White Christmas has been observed 12 times since 1892 (about 9 percent of the time), last occurring in 2012.

View the data record for Christmas Day at Amarillo, 1892-2020

Based on climate data from 1892-2020, for Christmas Day at Amarillo, the average high is 49° F, the average low is 24° F, the average precipitation is 0.02", and the average snowfall is 0.17".

Temperature of 60° F or higher: 64° F in 2020
Temperature of 70° F or higher: 72° F in 2008

Temperature of 20° F or lower: 11° F in 2012
Rainfall: 0.06" in 2016
Rainfall total of 0.10" or higher: 0.21" in 2011
Snowfall: 2.0" in 2012
Snowfall total of 1.0" or higher: 2.0" in 2012
Back-to-back White Christmases: 2011 and 2012