Community Corner

What Are the Chances of a White Christmas This Year?

It depends on where you are, but if you're Royal Oak, your chances are slim.

Don't pull out those snow boots quite yet, Royal Oak.

The first major storm of the winter missed Royal Oak and the rest of Metro Detroit, and it's likely there won't be more of the white stuff until after Christmas.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), a "White Christmas" is defined as having at least one inch of snow on the ground Christmas morning. It doesn't need to snow on Christmas to make this possible, of course.

Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Christmas in Royal Oak, meanwhile, will be partly- to mostly-cloudy, with a high of 36 degrees.

Where can you find snow in the Midwest this Christmas? According to the Weather Channel's White Christmas Report, you could find snow in:

Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Throughout parts of northern and western Michigan
  • The Chicago area and parts of northern Illinois and Indiana
  • Throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa
  • Throughout most of the Great Plains states, including North and South Dakota

Where are you guaranteed a white Christmas? The probability for snow on the ground is 100 percent in Marquette, as well as International Fall, MN and Caribou, ME.

Meanwhile, there's a 50 percent or less chance in many of the big cities, including Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago. The largest metro area with the highest probability of snow this Christmas is Minneapolis, MN.


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