Will Illinois Have A White Christmas? Here’s What The Experts Say

Since you've never invited me over to your place during the Christmas season, I really don't know what the vibe is when it comes to having snow on the ground at Christmastime, or getting snow on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Is your house Team Snow, Team Green, or Team We-Just-Don't-Care?

There are generally 3 different takes about having a white Christmas; there's the hope and pray that we do have blanket of snow at Christmas time, there's the hope and pray that we don't, and then there's the "whatever, doesn't really matter to me" angle on things.

Around our house, led by my snow-loving wife Amy, it's a very pro-white Christmas atmosphere.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue--pro-snow or no-snow--let's take a look at our snow chances for Christmas 2024 in Northern Illinois.

The National Weather Service (probably tired of being asked) Decided To Crunch The Numbers On The Likelihood Of A White Christmas For Chicago And Northern Illinois

The way the National Weather Service (NWS) went about that task is by looking at the historical snow data covering the years between 1981 and 2010. The NWS' definition of a white Christmas is having at least an inch of snow on the ground on the morning of December 25th.

I could waste more of your time by posting some of the NWS' data tables, graphics maps, and breakdowns of snow reporting from individual weather reporting stations, but I'm not going do that. I'm just going to tell you what the NWS says our chances of a white Christmas are:

• On the low end: 41% chance of a white Christmas for Northern Illinois.
• On the high end: 50% chance of a white Christmas for Northern Illinois.

Maybe The Old Farmer's Almanac Or The Farmers' Almanac Have Other Ideas About The Likelihood Of Christmas Snow In Illinois...Or, Maybe They Don't (You Know How Farmers Can Be)

Let's take a look and see what competing almanacs have to say about the potential for a White Christmas in Illinois:

The Old Farmer's Almanac splits Illinois into a couple of zones covering the northern and southern halves of our state, and they're predicting that Northern Illinois will more than likely not have a White Christmas, while the southern half has about a 50-50 chance.

The Farmers' Almanac is more economical with their wording when describing what kind of weather Christmas 2024 will be in Illinois: Sunshine. Cold. Dry.

No matter which weather prognosticator weighs in on this issue, things seem to be sliding over to the Green Christmas side of things this year, at least here in Northern Illinois.