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   You are at: NWS Norman » Climatology » Special Topics » OKC Christmas Day Weather Facts

Christmas Day Weather Facts for
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The following are some numbers related to Christmas Day weather in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The numbers are based on records going back to 1890.

Category Average Warmest Coldest
High Temperature 47 73 in 1922 13 in 1983
Low Temperature 27 49 in 1936 -1 in 1983

Total Preciptation (1890-2003):
2.22 inches

Total Snowfall (1890-2003):
7.3 inches

Wettest Christmas:
1987 - Precipitation totaled 1.05 inches of liquid water equivalent, but all of the precipitation was freezing rain, sleet, and snow.

Whitest Christmas:
1914 - 6.5 inches of snow fell.

Percentage of Years with Precipitation:
23% - 26 of 114

Percentage of Years with a Trace or More of Snowfall:
9% - 10 of 114

Percentage of Years With 0.1 Inches Or More Of Snowfall:
3% - 3 of 114

Percentage of Years with At Least a Trace of Snow on the Ground Christmas Morning:
11% - 12 of 114

Percentage of Years with an Inch or More of Snow on the Ground on Christmas Morning:
5% - 6 of 114

Years with Snowfall
on Christmas Day

Snow on Ground
on Christmas Morning

   
1913 Trace 1913 Trace
1914 6.5 inches 1914 6 inches
1937 Trace 1918 5 inches
1939 0.3 inches 1924 3 inches
1948 Trace 1939 Trace
1952 Trace 1943 1 inch
1962 Trace 1962 Trace
1975 0.5 inches 1975 1 inch
1987 Trace 1983 Trace
2000 Trace 1987 Trace
    1990 Trace
    2002 2 inches

Some of the more memorable Christmas Days weatherwise in recent years include...

1955: The high of 54 was above average, but was a 32-degree drop-off from the previous day. A high of 86 on Christmas Eve was 38 degrees above the long-term average, and still stands as the all-time record high temperature for December.

1975: Rain changed to snow on Christmas Eve, with heavy snow falling that afternoon and continuing into early Christmas morning. Nearly 3 inches fell during the storm, but temperatures hovered just above freezing, and much of the snow melted when it reached the ground.

1983: Bitter cold with wind chills as low as 27 below occurred during the pre-dawn hours of Christmas Day. The high of 13 was an improvement over the previous day, as the high on Christmas Eve was 3 above zero. The low was zero, and wind chills dropped as low as minus 45 as north winds gusted to 38 mph.

1987: Freezing rain and sleet began before sunrise, and was the start of an infamous 2-day ice storm that left parts of Oklahoma without power for over a week. Sleet prevailed across the western and northern parts of Oklahoma City, while freezing rain devastated southern and eastern parts of the metro area. Despite heavy sleet and ice accumulations of up to 2 inches, total snowfall was only a trace.

1989: Christmas Day was a sunny, mild day with temperatures in the 50s. But what made this Christmas memorable was the dramatic warm-up that was in progress. Three days earlier the temperature fell to minus 4, a new all-time record low for December. Winds of 20 mph at the time dropped wind chills to near 50 below. The next night, the December low temperature record was broken again when the temperature fell to minus 8. Two days later on Christmas Day, the temperature reached 57, giving Oklahoma City a 65-degree warm-up in two days.

2000: A major winter storm affected much of Oklahoma on December 25-26, with impacts similar to the storm in 1987. The storm began on Christmas Day across the region, with significant accumulations of snow and ice occurring Christmas night and into December 26. Heavy snow, accumulating 8 to 12 inches, fell across northwest Oklahoma. Meanwhile, a combination of snow, sleet, and freezing rain fell across west-central, central and north-central Oklahoma, with accumulations ranging from 2 to as much as 8 inches. One of the worst ice storms to ever affect the state of Oklahoma occurred in south-central and southeast Oklahoma, where ice and sleet accumulations from 1 to 2 inches were common. Statewide, around 170,000 residents were without electricity right after the storm, and power was not restored in some locations until almost 2 weeks later.


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