Naturally, it’s always possible to get rain on Christmas, and way back in 1950 the city saw its rainiest holiday ever recorded, with half-an-inch of rain falling on the big day. More information on conditions for each Christmas Day since 1950 can be found here on the NOAA Online Weather portal. The last time the city hit that milestone was in 2017, when NWS recorded two inches of snow cover on the ground at O’Hare. In the eyes of the National Weather Service, a “White Christmas” is defined as a holiday where there is at least one inch of snow on the ground by the end of the day. In 2002, the city saw two inches of snow fall, the most it had seen in a single Christmas since 1965.įor the snowfall record, one would have to go all the way back to 1950, when Chicago received 5.1 inches of snow on the holiday.įor a ranking of the snowiest and wettest Christmases on record, residents can consult the 'Chicago Christmas' page. Significant snowfalls on Christmas Day have been a bit more rare, with the last snowfall of more than one inch occurring in 2013. The last time we received measurable snow in Chicago on Christmas came in 2017, when 0.1 inches of snow fell at O’Hare. Snow on Christmas isn’t an exceptionally rare or common occurrence in Chicago, with the National Weather Service reporting measurable snowfall (defined as 0.1 inches or more) 39% of the time since record-keeping began. Now we’re getting to the interesting stuff. More information on high and low temperatures on Christmas, residents can consult the NWS Christmas Data page. Hopefully Santa Claus bundled up for that journey through the Midwest. In case you’re curious, the coldest temperature recorded on Christmas Day in Chicago also came in 1983, with a low of negative-17 degrees. The year 1985 came close, with a high temperature of 2 degrees, and there have only been a handful of other instances in which the high was in the single-digits for Christmas.

On that frigid winter day in 1983, the high temperature at O’Hare was negative-5 degrees, the only time that the Christmas Day high has been below-zero since record keeping began in the 19 th century. What goes up must inevitably come down, and that apparently is the case with high temperatures on Christmas Day, as just one year later the city recorded its coldest-ever high temperature for the holiday. The higher temperatures will continue into the beginning of next week, Birk said.Chicago-area Lyft rider shares experience from ‘nightmare' trip Coldest Christmas on Record: Saturday should be in the 40s again but cloudy, Nelson said, while rising temperatures in the 50s and sunny skies is likely on Sunday. Temperatures for after-school trick-or-treating should be 35 to 40 degrees, but with 20-30 mph winds, it will feel more like the mid-20s, Birk said. The rest of the weekend should be pretty dry but cold. Friday, Nelson said 'they've had a few more flurries' near O'Hare.Ĭhicago may see another one-tenth of an inch of measurable snow, but 'nothing inland,' he said. But lake-effect snow might circle back to the city by midday and continue through the afternoon, Birk said.Īs of 12:50 p.m. The snow that fell near O'Hare might be all that Chicago gets Friday morning before the weather heads to northwest Indiana. 12, 2006, when three-tenths of an inch fell. The earliest measurable snowfall in Chicago was on Oct. On average, Chicago sees its first measurable snow on Nov. The 1993 trace amounts of snow were the last flakes we've seen on Halloween, according to Kevin Birk, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. 'I just hope this doesn't set a precedent where it keeps on going and going and going.' 'It's the first ever Halloween with measurable snow,' Nelson said. In 1993, a trace amount of snow fell in Chicago, but it did not rise to the one-tenth of an inch level that counts as measurable snowfall. The snow, measured at O'Hare, marked a record that led to mixed reactions among Chicagoans and meteorologists.Īt the National Weather Service offices, 'Some people do' get excited, Nelson said. One-tenth of an inch fell Friday morning in Chicago, marking the first 'measurable' snowfall on record for a Halloween in Chicago, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Nelson.

Chicago snow totals by day 2017