# Quick Doper Poll: Have You Ever Seen a White Christmas? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536 "2006-12-01T22:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/81 "2006-12-03T12:47:08Z")
[Here’s](http://ols.nndc.noaa.gov/plolstore/plsql/olstore.prodspecific?prodnum=C00493-PUB-A0001) the text of an NOAA site that lists the probability of snow on Christmas day for many US cities. Cities with 100% chance are Marquette MI, Sault Ste Marie MI, Hibbing MN, International Falls MN, Stampede Pass WA. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/82 "2006-12-03T12:47:16Z")
Spent nearly every christmas of my life here in Southern Ontario. Offhand I’d say about a 40% white rate. More often than not the neverending blanket of whiteness doesn’t get here until January. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/83 "2006-12-03T13:12:54Z")
Doesn’t all that snow mess with the family bbq christmas lunch? Aussie here, so no snow at Christmas. In fact, of the five times I’ve seen snow in my whole life, none of them were remotely close to Christmas time. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/84 "2006-12-03T13:50:23Z")
I spent many many years in Colorado, I’ve seen my share of white Halloweens, Thanksgivings, and Mother’s Days. And yes, there have been several white Christmases, including the notorious Blizzard of '82. I like being in Florida now. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/85 "2006-12-03T14:16:26Z")
[QUOTE=cazzle] \ Aussie here, so no snow at Christmas. [/QUOTE] Indeed, you Aussies should really mend that earth tilt problem you all have down there. Between your cockamamie counter-clockwise water drainage and your harebrained hot winters, well, it’s simply not an environ fit for civilized human habitation. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/86 "2006-12-03T14:58:39Z")
Growing up in SE Pennsylvania, I can remember some white Christmases, but most weren’t. I’ve found it’s helpful to tell people that I’m “from Pennsylvania, but not snowbelt Pennsylvania”. Here? Yeah, mostly. This year, however, absolutely nothing would surprise me. Lately it seems we don’t have a climate any more. We just have weather. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/87 "2006-12-03T16:07:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] Solstices begin summer and winter. Autumn starts with an [equinox,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox) as does spring. [/quote] Whoops! Hey, in my defence, it’s much easier to pluralize ‘solstice’. _(wondering if that’ll sound plausible - heehee)_ ---
**Author:** ![Canadiangirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Canadiangirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadiangirl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/88 "2006-12-03T17:12:54Z")
It really doesn’t feel like christmas 'til it snows! You’re welcome for a visit to the great white north anytime, sampiro! 🙂 I’d rather have a white christmas than brown or green. We have had both but I much prefer SNOW!!! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/89 "2006-12-03T17:30:43Z")
I’ve had a white _Halloween_ once. It was oh, 1993, IIRC. And not just a little dusting, either-we’re talking big ass snow drifts. Snow on Christmas here in Western PA seems to be hit or miss. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/90 "2006-12-03T20:34:04Z")
In Jersey I have seen plenty of white Christmases and a couple of white Thanksgivings. I never saw a white Halloween until I started going to school in Pittsburgh. As much as I enjoy snow, I still do not think that it belongs in October. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/91 "2006-12-03T22:57:59Z")
White Halloweens were pretty common when I was growing up. I remember many years being miffed because my Mom made me wear my winter coat and boots over my costume when I went out trick-or-treating. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/92 "2006-12-04T01:09:49Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. PoopiePants] Indeed, you Aussies should really mend that earth tilt problem you all have down there. Between your cockamamie counter-clockwise water drainage and your harebrained hot winters, well, it’s simply not an environ fit for civilized human habitation. [/QUOTE] No, we like it just the way it is. Christmas in cold weather just seems incredibly unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/93 "2006-12-04T01:16:44Z")
[QUOTE=Cheez\_Whia] I guess it sounds like you all think the definition of a White Christmas means there’s already snow on the ground. If that’s the case, I’ve had one most years since I moved to Colorado in 1991. But to me, a White Christmas meant that fresh snow falls on Christmas Eve night, to wake up to on Christmas morning, like in “A Chriistmas Story”. By my definition, I’ve had none, zilch, nada, zip, bupkis. [/QUOTE] On that definition, I have at least one. A few years ago, one of my sons was visiting his parents in Ohio or the first time, withe a friend of his from high school and uni. We went to church on Christmas Eve evening, and the snow started falling just as we were leaving church, Definitely a white Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/94 "2006-12-04T07:29:09Z")
When I was a growing up in Milwaukee, I remember it once snowed 9 inches on December 24. I was born on December 25, two days after an 11-inch snowfall. On December 22, 2000, the snow depth in Milwaukee was measured at 32 inches. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/95 "2006-12-04T07:34:04Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. PoopiePants] Between your cockamamie counter-clockwise water drainage [/QUOTE] [Myth](http://www.snopes.com/science/coriolis.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/96 "2006-12-04T07:48:54Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] No, we like it just the way it is. Christmas in cold weather just seems incredibly unnatural. [/QUOTE] That’s right. It’s not really Christmas unless you’re sweltering in 100F degree heat wearing shorts and a singlet, singing songs about sleighbells in a house decorated with fake snowmen and artificial frost on the windows. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/97 "2006-12-04T08:24:50Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] No, we like it just the way it is. Christmas in cold weather just seems incredibly unnatural. [/QUOTE] Yeah- how can you possibly have a Christmas without it being stinking hot and flies all over the place? I have seen snow on hill tops in Scotland…tha is as close as I have come to the real article. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/98 "2006-12-04T17:17:26Z")
Probably a quarter to a third of them in my childhood, a third in my young adulthood. Now I live where it rarely snows, so none since I came to my part of Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/99 "2006-12-04T17:30:06Z")
Never seen a white Christmas, but I’m a native Floridian. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536/100 "2006-12-19T08:00:47Z")
The Weather Channel posts a [White Christmas](http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/holidays/?from=LAPnewslinker) map of the United States. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-doper-poll-have-you-ever-seen-a-white-christmas/382536.md?page=6)