White Christmas History in Central Alabama

Each year, as Christmas Day approaches, people across Central Alabama begin dreaming of a White Christmas. However, historical records do not hold much hope for a truly classical White Christmas, that is, snow falling and measurable amounts on the ground on Christmas Day.

Climatological Probabilities (long term averages) of a White Christmas -- (Click on image for a larger view) Source: National Climatic Data Center

• For Birmingham, where nearly 100 years of weather records exist, there has never been a White Christmas in the classic sense.
  
  
• Perhaps the closest resemblance to a White Christmas in Birmingham was December, 1985. Flurries falling on Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning lightly dusted some areas, but snow was not deep enough to measure.
  
  
• Eight other trace snowfall events occurring in 1961, 1963, 1966, 1980, 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1995 were reported at the Birmingham International Airport on either December 24th or 25th.
  
  
• Weather records show that 5.5 inches of snow fell at the city office on December 22, 1929. On December 24th, there was still 2.5 inches of snow on the ground at 7 PM. However, most of the snow melted Christmas Day when the temperature climbed to 51 degrees.

• For Montgomery, there has not been a White Christmas since 1919. The closest Montgomery has come to a White Christmas was in 1962 when a trace of snow was observed on December 24th. However, a near miss occurred in 1935 when 1.4 inches of snow fell on December 21-22.

Tuscaloosa area

• Tuscaloosa has only reported two trace snowfall events in 1962 and 1985 on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Anniston area

• Anniston has reported a total of seven trace snowfall events in 1963, 1970, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1995 on either December 24th or 25th, but has never seen a true White Christmas.

• Hazardous Weather Outlook
• Latest Forecasts
• White Christmas? -- A Report from the National Climatic Data Center
• U.S. Snow Monitoring - Recent Snowfall & Snowdepth Maps
• Alabama Office of the State Climatologist
• Southeast Regional Climate Center (AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA)