Will Athens residents see snow on Christmas Day? Something needs to change.
Bing Crosby first sang a popular song many decades ago about dreaming of a white Christmas. In other words, it was a wish for a snowstorm.
But a dream is about par for a white Christmas in Athens.
Snow on Christmas in the Athens area is very rare. The last time there was some measurable snow on Christmas wasn’t actually that far back in time.
On Christmas day in 2010, the heavens bequeathed the area enough snow flakes to glisten the treetops.
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But those hardy folks in far north Georgia got up to 6 to 8 inches, according to a report from the National Weather Service. Parts of Atlanta even got from 1 to 3 inches, the “first measurable snow on Christmas day since 1881,” according to the report.
Christmas is less than two weeks away, but a long-range forecast calls for weather reaching a high of around 58 degrees on Christmas, with a possibility of showers.
But National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Marlow of Atlanta said any forecast over a week away is typically of “low confidence.”
“We want to be careful about anything too far in the future because things are likely to change especially in the South,” he said.
But nevertheless, Marlow said snowfall on Christmas Day 2023 appears unlikely.
In contrast, a year ago the coldest day of 2022 fell on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as temperatures plummeted to a dangerous 7 degrees. The day never got above freezing creating an icebox situation that burst a lot of water pipes.
While a white Christmas is a rare weather event for Athens, the area can expect snow during the winter months.
Weather Service records show the largest snow reported in Athens came in at a whopping 8.7 inches on March 24,1983. That snow broke a record set on Jan. 22, 1987, when 7.1 inches of snow was recorded in Athens.
Then along came March 1, 2009, when the area received 6.5 inches from a snowstorm that fell from Columbus to Athens.
A storm to remember occurred in 1993. It surprised folks as it occurred just a week before the first day of spring. The storm barreled into Athens in the form of a windswept blizzard referred to some as the “Storm of the Century.”
The weather service reported this blizzard shed nearly 3 feet of snow in extreme north Georgia. Athens received 3 inches, but the cold icy conditions kept it on the ground for days. Any sleigh bells that were still around by then were definitely ringing as the old song about Christmas says.
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This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Is snow on the horizon on Christmas Day for Athens?
