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Every year people hope and pray to have a white Christmas, just like the ones we used to know. You know, the kind where the treetops glisten and the children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow? Yeah, those ones! Unfortunately for Columbus and most other parts of the state, there does not appear to be a snowy Christmas on the horizon. Meteorologists have been tracking the weather patterns for the weeks leading up to the big Christmas day. According to their research, the jet stream pattern in the United States will likely go across the West, bring cold air into the Rockies, and go up towards the Midwest the weekend before Christmas Day.

This pattern points to a likely mild and dry holiday for Ohio.

Even though this is certainly disappointing, it is not out of the ordinary. Approximately 75% of every Christmas in most of the state of Ohio is snow free. For Columbus specifically, there is a slightly lower chance of snow, coming in with around a 23% chance of snow annually. Cities like Cincinnati have as low as a 12% chance. The parts of the state most likely to see snow lie in the northeastern area. Roughly half of the Christmases here see snow.

While these are the predictions currently coming in, there is still a strong possibility for weather patterns to change. As we get deeper into the world plagued by climate change, weather becomes harder and harder to predict. We can assume for the time being certain things based on history and current weather tracking, but can never know for sure, especially a week in advance.

With that said, last year Columbus did see a white Christmas.

Much of Ohio actually saw historic levels of snow and record temperature lows. Columbus had temperatures as low as -7 degrees in the peak of the day on the 23^rd of December. This was furthered by a wind blowing, lowering the feeling of the air down to -34 degrees. On the same day, Columbus had 4.9 inches of snow which stayed through to Christmas, adding a gorgeous layer perfect for the holiday feeling. The year prior the state had record rainfall on Christmas, seeing .82 inches, which set the record for Ohio on Christmas.