Insider Blog: A white Christmas is as rare as it feels, but so is this warmth

Outside of the Inter-Mountain West and far northern states, it's going to be tough to come by snow for much of the U.S. before the new year, especially here in mid-Missouri.

In December, we average around 3 inches of snow each year. While the month isn't over yet, we've only had 5 day's of precipitation, and it's all been rain.

If we continue this trend, and go the rest of the month without snow, it will be the first time since 2004, considering missing data for December 2014. However, December snow doesn't necessarily equal a white Christmas, that's even more rare. The last time we had snow on the ground on December 25th was in 2017; one of only 5 occasions in the last 30 years.

This statistic is fitting, as the statistical chance of seeing a white Christmas is just as rare as it is special, with only about an 18% chance on any given year. Given what we see coming in the next 7 days, our chance looks to be zero.

Considering we'll see temperatures in the upper 60's on Christmas Eve (something that will challenge record highs across the region), Christmas looks very mild. So far this month, our average departure from normal is a whopping ten degrees. That is a stat that may just be as rare as a white Christmas.