Powerful Pacific System Impacting the West; First Significant Snow for Portions of the East

Power Pacific system will continue to bring significant impacts for Pacific Northwest into northern California the remainder of the week. Dangerous coastal affects, heavy rain, flooding, strong winds, and higher elevation mountain snow continues. Meanwhile, a storm across the east is set to bring the first accumulating snow to many higher elevations of the Catskills into the central Appalachians. Read More >

North Platte Christmas Day Climatology

Christmas Day is observed nationally on December 25 and observations have been recorded in North Platte on Christmas Day since 1874. Snow depth at the beginning of records is not available, for this study snow depth information is used dating back to 1880. Included below is information about a White Christmas in North Platte, which has happened three times in the last 10 years, and that was in 2006, 2009 and 2012. In 2007 and 2013, there was a light blanket of snow at observation time, but the snow depth was less than 1/2 an inch at the airport, which by definition is only a trace and not typically considered a "White Christmas".

CHRISTMAS DAY IN NORTH PLATTE
PERIOD OF RECORD 142 YEARS: 1874-2015

TEMPERATURE DATA

Highest	65 degrees (1999)
Lowest	-25 degrees (1879)
Lowest Maximum	3 degrees (1983)
Highest Minimum	31 degrees (2 times) (1942 & 1959)
Average High	37.7 degrees
Average Low	12.2 degrees
30 year Normal High	38 degrees
30 year Normal Low	11 degrees
Average Temperature Range	25.4 degrees
Largest Range between High and Low	51 degrees High 26, Low -25 (1879)
Smallest Range between High and Low	3 degrees (3 times) High 15, Low 12 (1966) High 26, Low 23 (1941) High 19, Low 16 (1888)

High Temperature by 10 Degree Ranges

0s	10s	20s	30s	40s	50s	60s
3	15	24	32	34	28	6
2.1%	10.6%	16.9%	22.5%	23.9%	19.7%	4.2%

Low Temperature by 10 Degree Ranges

-20s	-10s	-0s	0s	10s	20s	30s
1	4	14	34	50	36	3
0.7%	2.8%	9.9%	23.9%	35.2%	25.4%	2.1%

PRECIPITATION DATA

Maximum Precipitation	0.19 inches (1941)
Maximum Snowfall	4.0 inches (1888)
Number of Times Precipitation	43 Occurrences or 30.3%
Number of Times Measurable Precipitation (more than a Trace)	20 Occurrences or 14.1%
Number of Times Snowfall	40 Occurrences or 28.2%
Number of Times Measurable Snowfall (more than a Trace)	20 Occurrences or 14.1%
Number of Times No Precipitation	99 Occurrences or 69.7%
Most Snow on Ground at Observation Time	8 inches (1973)

WHITE CHRISTMAS IN NORTH PLATTE
PERIOD OF RECORD 136 YEARS: 1880-2015
White Christmas = 1 inch or more of snow on ground
at observation time on December 25
(snow depth rounded to nearest whole inch or trace if 0.4 inches or less)

Number of Years with a White Christmas (136 years)	36 Years (26.5%)
Number of Years with a White Christmas (last 25 years)	4 Years (16%)
Number of Years with a White Christmas (last 10 years)	3 Years (30.0%) 2006 - 3 inches 2009 - 3 inches 2012 - 1 inch
Number of Years with trace or more snow on Ground (136 years)	59 Years (43.3%)
Number of Years with trace or more snow on Ground (last 25 years)	10 Years (40.0%)
Number of Years with trace or more snow on Ground (last 10 years)	5 Years (50.0%)
Consecutive Years with a White Christmas	4 Years (twice) (1982 - 1985) (1913 - 1916)
Consecutive Years without a White Christmas	13 Years (1926 - 1938) 11 Years (1986 - 1996)
Current Streak Consecutive Years without a White Christmas	3 Years

White Christmas Occurences by Decade
* incomplete decade

1880s	1890s	1900s	1910s	1920s	1930s	1940s
1	3	2	6	4	1	4
1950s	1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000s	2010s
1	4	2	4	1	2	1*

DAILY WEATHER SUMMARIES PAST 5 CHRISTMAS DAYS

Date	High	Low	Precip	Snow	Snow Depth	Remarks
2011	51	13	0.00	0.0	0	Sunny
2012	14	-3	0.08	1.0	1	Morning/afternoon snow, becoming partly cloudy late
2013	43	12	0.00	0.0	T	Sunny
2014	42	21	T	T	0	Clear morning, then cloudy and windy, a few evening flurries (peak wind gusts 32 mph)
2015	39	13	0.02	0.2	0	Cloudy, evening light snow

YEAR BY YEAR WEATHER FOR PAST CHRISTMAS DAYS
CLICK ON GRAPH FOR LARGER IMAGE

ALSO VISIT VALENTINE CHRISTMAS CLIMATOLOGY

For a climatology including a map of a White Christmas
across the lower 48 states visit White Christmas

For more holiday climate studies see the main menu
Holiday Climate Studies for North Platte and Valentine

Page composition by
Matthew Masek
Update includes 2015

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Powerful Pacific System Impacting the West; First Significant Snow for Portions of the East

Christmas Day Climatology - North Platte, NE