(WFRV) – As the snow continues to fall late Thursday and temperatures begin to drop, it is almost without question that northeast Wisconsin will experience a white Christmas this year!
While it seems like Christmas just isn’t the same without snow on the ground, history tells us that having a white Christmas might not happen nearly as often as you might imagine.
By definition, to have a white Christmas, a location needs to measure a snow depth of at least 1″. Let’s take a look back and see how often communities across our area reach that threshold.
| Green Bay | Appleton | Manitowoc | Antigo | |
| Snow depth records start date | 1893 | 1901 | 1898 | 1935 |
| % of Christmas days with at least 1″ of snow | 69% | 73% | 62% | 83% |
| Greatest snow depth on Christmas Day | 18″ in 1985 | 17″ in 2008 | 18″ in 1951 | 17″ in 1983 |
| Average snow depth on Christmas Day | 3.3″ | 3.8″ | 3.0″ | 5.6″ |
| Most recent white Christmas | 5″ in 2017 | 1″ in 2019 | 3″ in 2017 | 2″ in 2021 |
This will more than likely be Green Bay’s and Manitowoc’s first white Christmas in five years. While it will be Appleton’s first since it just barely reached the threshold for a white Christmas back in 2019.
Some may find it surprising that parts of northeast Wisconsin only have a white Christmas around 70% of the time.
