What Are The Chances Of A White Christmas In Northern Illinois?

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 2023 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 Has Other Ideas About Christmas Snow

Then again, maybe they really don't. Patch.com:

The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts large swaths of the country could see snow during Christmas week. The long-range forecast for the Lower Lakes area, which includes Chicago, calls for "snow showers in the days leading up to Christmas, with temperatures trending colder."