With Chicago getting its first snowfall of the season, it feels like an appropriate time for Old Farmer\u2019s Almanac to release their Christmas weather predictions.<\/p>\n
According to the National Weather Service, the city of Chicago routinely gets a so-called \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d just 41% of the time (at least in terms of having an inch or more of snow on the ground on the holiday), but will this year provide residents with a festive coating of snow for the holiday?<\/p>\n
The Old Farmer\u2019s Almanac recently released its Christmas weather predictions<\/a>, covering the week leading up to the holiday and the weekend following that date at the end of December.<\/p>\n The verdict?<\/p>\n According to the Almanac\u2019s prediction, snowy conditions are indeed possible in the Chicago area and for other parts of the Midwest, with colder-than-normal temperatures expected according to their calculations.<\/p>\n In fact, the Almanac says that the Chicago area could see \u201ccold to very cold\u201d conditions, and that residents should expect \u201csnowy periods\u201d around the holiday.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the publication is calling for warmer-than-normal temperatures for most of the western United States, along with colder-than-normal conditions in New England.<\/p>\n Many meteorologists dispute the accuracy and the methodology employed by the Farmer’s Almanac and caution against such long-range predictions.<\/p>\n The Farmer’s Almanac claims a\u00a0success rate of 80-to-85%,<\/a>\u00a0though many media studies have contested that figure. One such study, conducted by the University of Illinois and cited by Popular Mechanics, holds that the Old Farmer\u2019s Almanac is only correct 52% of the time, which essentially represents the odds of a coin flip landing on either heads or tails.<\/p>\n Accurately predicting weather beyond two weeks can be particularly challenging.<\/p>\n According to the National Weather Service, a \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d<\/a> is defined as having at least one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day. The city of Chicago according to NWS data has had a \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d 41% of the time since record-keeping began in the 1870s.<\/p>\n The normal high for December 25 is approximately 34 degrees, and the normal low is around 22 degrees.<\/p>\n The last few years have given the city of Chicago a bit of a taste of both worlds. In 2022, the last time Chicago had a \u201cWhite Christmas,\u201d the city experienced one of its coldest Christmases on record, with the high reaching just 14 degrees.<\/p>\n The following year, Chicago had its second-warmest Christmas ever, with the high hitting a balmy 59 degrees.<\/p>\n Last year, Chicago\u2019s high temperature on Christmas was 39 degrees, and a snowfall that had occurred on December 20 had melted by the time the holiday arrived, according to NWS data.<\/a><\/p>\n As for this year\u2019s holiday season, the Climate Prediction Center\u2019s monthly forecast only covers November, but it calls for Chicago to potentially see above-average temperatures through the end of the month.<\/p>\n