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Flooding in the Mississippi Valley; Fire Weather in California; Tropical Cyclone Rafael

A cold front will stall near the Mississippi River Valley today with excessive rainfall bringing areas of flooding over parts of the region. Gusty winds and dry conditions will drive critical to extremely critical fire weather over portions of central and southern California through Thursday. Tropical Storm Watches have been issued for parts of the Florida Keys ahead of Tropical Cyclone Rafael. Read More >

Amarillo, TX

Weather Forecast Office

Christmas Climatology for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles

Weather.gov > Amarillo, TX > Christmas Climatology for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles
Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles Christmas Climatology
Average High: 49° F Avearge Low: 24° F Average Precip: 0.02" Average Snow: 0.17"

 

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.

 

Probabilities of a White Christmas

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".

 

Christmas Day Quick Facts
Warmest Christmas high temperature: 73° F in 1979 and 1971
Coldest Christmas high temperature: 14° F in 1983
Coldest Christmas low temperature: 2° F in 1983
Warmest Christmas low temperature: 45° F in 1936
Wettest Christmas: 0.44" in 1939
Snowiest Christmas: 4.6" in 1939
Number of times with measurable precipitation on Christmas: 16 times out of 129 years (12%)
Number of times with snow (trace or more) on Christmas: 12 times out of 129 years (9%)

 

Last Time It Happened

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
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