BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — What would your first guess be if someone asked you, "How often does Buffalo have a white Christmas?"
Would you think, it's Buffalo, it has to be close to 100%? Would you wonder what the parameters are to constitute a white Christmas?
Well, I'm here to tell you what technically makes a white Christmas, how often Buffalo meets that criteria and some other facts about December 25 since we have records dating back to 1871!
The definition of a white Christmas: there is an inch or more of snow on the ground. This is called "snow depth." Records began for this measurement at the Buffalo National Weather Service Office in 1893,\ which is located at the Buffalo airport. It's good to point out that this measurement is at the Buffalo Airport. Many other locations across WNY have varying snow depths through the season, especially when lake effect snow is a factor.
WATCH: How often does Buffalo get a white Christmas? We dug through the records dating back to 1893
With that said, over the past 131 years of records, Buffalo has had a white Christmas 58% of the time.
Now, I'm much more into snow falling on Christmas Day in order to say it's a white Christmas. Sure, snow on the ground makes it true, but if there aren't flakes flying that day, it's kind of a letdown!
Here's the top five snowiest Christmases over the past 45 years.
The numbers above are how much snow fell on Christmas Day at the Buffalo Airport. This wouldn't be ideal for traveling around town on Christmas Day, but watching the snowfall while opening Christmas gifts is picture-perfect!
If we want to look at the most recent years, Christmas Day has been on a roller coaster the last five years. 50s and rain to 20s and snow and if you look at snow depth, it was a white Christmas 60% of the time.
This year, it's likely any snow at the Buffalo airport will melt before Christmas Day, so "snow depth" is null and void for 2025.
But will any weather system bring snow into WNY for Christmas Day?
Buffalo's forecast is looking quiet for Christmas; no snow will be falling either. However, travel to see loved ones is in tip-top shape weather-wise. Find the latest 7 weather forecast here.
