After the snows of the last week and with more falling, all of Upper Michigan is guaranteed a white Christmas this year. In fact, we, along with northern Minnesota, are among the only non-mountainous locations in the U.S. almost guaranteed a White Christmas year in and year out.

However, during the last 30 years, there were three “green” Christmases, with little or no snow on the ground. They are Christmas 1994, 2006 and 2015. Obviously, it was warm those years. Christmas 1994 saw high temperatures hit the 50s at Ironwood and Iron Mountain and at the National Weather Service (NWS) on the green Christmas Eve of 1994.

On the other hand, it was REALLY white two years later in 1996. Marquette received 14.3 inches of snow on Christmas Eve that year, a December record one-day snowfall. The Houghton area was buried under a record 16 inches of snow on December 24, 1981.With the snow comes the cold. The coldest Christmas Day at the NWS was 24 below zero in 2004. Later that day, a foot of snow came down in just a few hours!

Windy, snowy conditions will gradually give way to quieter weather early next week. There will be the usual lake-effect snow showers near Lake Superior, but further heavy snow is not anticipated. A gradual warm up is expected through mid-week.