Will New York City see a White Christmas this year?

December 21, 2022

Snow in Central Park; Photo courtesy of the Central Park Conservancy

New Yorkers who fantasize about opening their blinds on Christmas morning to a sprawling landscape of snow will likely be disappointed this year. According to the “White Christmas Calculator,” a tool created by the Omni Calculator Project that gives the likelihood of snowfall in major cities, the probability that New York City sees at least one inch of snow on December 25 is approximately 13.2 percent. However, there are a few other cities located nearby with a near or over 50 percent chance of seeing flurries.

Image courtesy of climate.gov

The last time New York City had a White Christmas was in 2009. According to Omni, the nearest cities with a higher chance of a White Christmas include Albany (49 percent), Worcester, Massachusetts (43 percent), Lowell, Massachusetts (50.4 percent), and Syracuse (56.3 percent). So if you really want to see some snow on Christmas, your best bet is taking a drive up to Syracuse.

Omni used data based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) climate normals, which are the averages of various climatological measurements over the course of three decades. The measurements include daily and monthly normals of temperature, precipitation, snowfall, heating and cooling degrees days, and more. Take a look at NOAA’s interactive map here.

You can use Omni’s snowfall calculator yourself below: