With Christmas fast approaching here in the Salt City, let’s look back and see what types of weather we have experienced in the past on Dec. 25.


What You Need To Know

  • This Christmas will be cold, but not one of the coldest ever in Syracuse

  • The high temperature was -2 on Syracuse's coldest Christmas in 1980

  • We picked up 15.6 inches of snow on the snowiest Christmas on record 

  • Since 1902, 63% of Syracuse Christmases are ‘white’ with at least 1 inch of snow depth

Given the flash freeze we are expecting midday Friday, you may be wondering if Christmas 2022 here in Syracuse will be one of the coldest we have ever experienced.

Temperature

The coldest high temperature ever recorded on Dec. 25 here in Syracuse, using data going back to 1902, occurred in 1980. We didn’t even get above zero that Christmas, with a high of -2 degrees!

On the flip side, the warmest Christmas on record here was back in 1932, when the high was a mild 66 degrees.

While this Christmas will definitely be toward the colder end of things for us, the aforementioned record for the coldest Christmas should remain intact..

Snowfall

Some of you may remember the snowiest Christmas ever recorded in Syracuse, which happened just 44 years ago.

On Dec. 25, 1978, 15.6 inches of snow fell, surpassing the old record, which was 7.1 inches in 1951. That is currently the third-snowiest Christmas on record.

The second-snowiest Christmas here occurred just 20 years ago, in 2002. We picked up 10.2 inches of snow that day.

When examining just snow on the ground, as you would expect, most Christmases on record here have indeed been ‘white’ ones.

In fact, 63% of Christmases going back to 1902 have had a least one inch of snow on the ground. Only 3% have had at least a foot.

Data Courtesy: xmACIS2

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