Even if you wish you lived in South Florida, far away from any winter weather, chances are the thought of snow on Christmas puts at least a small grin on your face.
A white Christmas and first night of Hanukkah (both are Dec. 25 this year) is hard to come by at the South Jersey Shore. That will be true this year as well, with generally mild weather expected around the holiday.
Even though Dec. 25 falls in the winter season, which starts on Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year, Christmas snow isn’t very common here. While the ocean keeps cooling down, storms bring warm air when they travel up the coast. This warm air makes it harder for snow to fall because it raises the temperature, making it rare for snow to fall on any day in December.
The technical definition of a white Christmas is an inch or more of snow on the ground on the day itself, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So even if you were to measure a half inch of snow on Christmas Day, it wouldn’t qualify as a white Christmas.
If that definition sounds like a lump of coal in your stocking, meeting a cheerier definition that includes any measurable snow on Christmas Day is just as unlikely. There’s a 6% chance for both an inch or more of snow on the ground, or any measurable snow on Christmas Day at Atlantic City International Airport in Egg Harbor Township, according to NOAA.
Snowfall records at the Sen. Frank S. Farley State Marina in Atlantic City haven’t been taken since 1956. Back then, there was only a 7% chance of having at least 1 inch of snow on the ground, and a 3% chance of any snow at all. Even though the climate was cooler, a Dec. 25 snow was just as unlikely. Nowadays, right by the ocean, there’s actually a bit less chance of snow on holidays than in places farther away from the shore.
Our last official white Christmas at the South Jersey Shore was in 2009. Do you remember that one? I was a freshman at Rutgers University then. I still remember waking up at my parents’ house in Central Jersey, and seeing how bright Christmas morning was with the sun reflecting off the snow.
Read the rest on Shore Local here.
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