Will Illinois residents see a white Christmas this year? Here’s what forecasters say
Many southwest Illinois and St. Louis residents experienced the first snowfall of the season Nov. 12. Some areas have seen temperatures drop as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and forecasts in the teens are coming for the metro-east this week.
Belleville received 6 inches of snow Nov. 12, according to the National Weather Service St. Louis. Several other metro-east areas also had snowfall that day; O’Fallon got 4 inches, and Fairview Heights had 3 inches of snowfall.
Thanksgiving weather predictions for the metro-east include forecasts for fair and cold weather. But just how likely is it metro-east and St. Louis residents will see a white Christmas day this year?
Will southwest Illinois see a white Christmas in 2022?
The NWS St. Louis reports southwest Illinois and St. Louis have an 11 to 25% historical probability of a white Christmas, based on data from 1981 to 2010. Local temperatures typically range from 27 to 42 degrees Dec. 25.
The office of the Illinois State Climatologist reports the Belleville area has a 23% chance of a white Christmas, also using data from 1981 to 2010. Predictably, northern Illinois localities have a higher likelihood of seeing snowfall Dec. 25 than the state’s southwestern region.
The Farmers’ Almanac, which uses a secret formula to predict weather, has released a forecast projecting the likelihood of a white Christmas in Illinois, Missouri and across the country. Illinois is in the almanac’s “Zone 2,” which also includes Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin.
“Merry mushy Christmas! Christmas weather: turning milder with a few showers of wet snow, rain,” the almanac’s Zone 2 prediction reads.
Missouri is in “Zone 4,” along with Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The almanac’s Zone 4 prediction reads: “White Christmas? Maybe! Snow over Rockies, Plains in time for Christmas.”
