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![The USA's fascination with a white Christmas dates back to 1942. when Bing Crosby first crooned the wistful song in the film Holiday Inn.](https://cdn.cincylink.com/pub/content/uploads/sites/27/2022/12/White-Christmas-in-Cincinnati-Cold-air-moving-in.jpg)
It's beginning to look a lot like that time of year when we start speculating about the possibility of a white Christmas.
Snow may cause a mild panic and a raid on the bread and milk aisles of the grocery stores at any other time of year but at least since Bing Crosby crooned that wistful song in the 1942 film "Holiday Inn," at Christmas time, it evokes a yearning for the Hygge life.
The numbers show that the Greater Cincinnati region has only a 10 to 25% (and closer to 10 than 25) historical probability of seeing that magical one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day. But hope springs eternal.
Could Cincinnati see a white Christmas in 2022?
This year, we are hearing "whispers of cold air moving in," according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington. It is too early to talk specific snow and temperature predictions, they caution, "but confidence is very high that the entire region will observe below normal temperatures."
That gets us closer to that coveted blanket of white. Can't have snow without cold.
The most recent prediction from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center shows a 90% chance for below-normal temperatures in this region between Dec. 22 and 28.
The Ohio Valley is "favored to have temperatures reach the single digits and teens," according to the Climate Prediction Center.
That is going to feel very different from last year when we had the warmest high temperature recorded on Christmas Day − 69 degrees.
So we have the cold, what about powdery precipitation?
It's possible ... there is potential for a winter storm to hit the Northeast from Dec. 22 to 24. Currently, forecasters are calling for a slight risk of the storm bringing heavy snow to that region.
If the Northeast and the northeastern portions of Ohio have a slight risk of heavy snow, might we lower and further west have the slight possibility of light snow? It's too early to say but we can dream.
White Christmases in our region
The last time the region saw a white Christmas was in 2017 but we did see some snowflakes drifting in the air in 2020.
According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, statistics for Cincinnati show in the last 70 Christmases, we've had:
- No snow on the ground and no new snow: 48 times
- No snow on the ground but new snowfall: 10 times
- 1 to 3 inches of snow on the ground: 8 times
- More than 3 inches of snow on the ground: 4 times
The most snow we've had on the ground on Christmas Day since 1871 was nine inches in 2004. The most snowfall was 3.7 inches in 1909.
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