The U.S. will likely have its greenest Christmas in 20 years
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — It has been a struggle locally in central Indiana to pick up snowfall so far this fall into early winter. We aren’t alone with these early-season struggles as many eye a green Christmas in the northern U.S.
This Christmas in the lower 48 will likely be the greenest we have seen in 20 years. Snow cover which is recorded every morning by the National Weather Service can be found here. As of the morning of Dec. 23, only 12.7% of the lower 48 is covered in snow.
No major snowstorms are on the way, however, some spots in the plains could increase the snow cover percentage with accumulation on Christmas Eve.
The least amount of snow cover in the lower 48 reported on Christmas Day is 21.2% which occurred in 2003. Most of the time in the last 20 years, about 30-40% of the country has been covered in snow.
What a difference a year can make. Indianapolis had a white Christmas in 2022 with exactly 1-inch snow depth. Nationally, 53 percent of the country was covered including most of Indiana. On average, Indianapolis has a white Christmas 26-40 percent of the time.
A lot of this warmth and lack of snow cover in the northern U.S. may be attributed to El Nino which typically as a warm signal for these locations.
Be sure to follow along with the forecast on our weather blog as we time out rain chances on Christmas.