With Christmas just around the corner, the big question on everyone’s mind is whether Utah will wake up to a white Christmas this year.
Will it snow in Utah?
According to Fox Weather, a fresh blanket of snow perfectly aligns with many people’s vision of an ideal Christmas morning. Officially, the National Weather Service defines a “white Christmas” as having at least one inch of snow on the ground on the morning of Dec. 25.
It’s still uncertain whether Utahns will wake up to a fresh, fluffy blanket of snow next week, but with snowflakes appearing in the forecast, the chance is definitely on the table for northern Utah.
“Our meteorologists have a fairly high confidence that a storm will move through Utah Christmas Eve night through Christmas Day. The long-range models have been consistent in bringing a storm system of some sort through the Beehive State right in time for the holiday,” per KUTV.
Fox 13 reports that a storm is forecast to move in late on Christmas Eve and continue into Christmas morning. The exact type of precipitation from this storm is still unclear. Predictions indicate it may start with rain, change to snow on Christmas morning, and possibly return to rain later in the day, per 2KUTV.
Who may have a white Christmas?
According to Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center, the regions most likely to see a white Christmas include the Rockies in north of Utah, the Great Lakes area, and the higher elevations of northern New England. There’s also a chance for snow in parts of the Appalachian Mountains, particularly in the highlands of West Virginia, western Maryland, and western Pennsylvania, per NPR.
“If you are one of those people that does get a chance to enjoy a white Christmas, definitely feel very lucky and very blessed to be able to enjoy something like that, as it looks like a lot of people this year will not be able to,” Kleebauer said, per NPR
Rising temperatures could impact our future white Christmases
The NOAA reports that 2024 has been the warmest year on record globally and is on track to be one of the two hottest years ever recorded in the United States, per NPR. If this warming trend continues, the chances of experiencing a white Christmas may become a delicacy.
