DETROIT – May the odds be forever in your favor.
It's not winter yet, but Michigan has already seen some snow and winter-like cold. But will we see snow this Christmas?
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Traditionally, a "white Christmas" is defined as at least one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day.
Historically speaking, Michigan has a great shot at a snowy Christmas Day every year. The Climate Prediction Center offers a map with white Christmas probability for certain Michigan areas. Most of them are between 40 and 60 percent odds.
Related: How unpredictable is Michigan's weather, really?
There are some obvious trends, for example, the farther north you go, the higher your chances are for snow on Christmas, especially in the Upper Peninsula, which has some of the highest odds in America.
While the map shows the historical probability that a snow depth of at least one inch will be observed on Dec. 25, the actual conditions in any year may vary widely from these because the weather patterns present will determine the snow on the ground or snowfall on Christmas Day.
These probabilities are useful as a guide only to show where snow on the ground is more likely.
Here are the historical odds of a White Christmas around Michigan:
- Adrian: 41 percent
- Albion: 44 percent
- Alpena: 75 percent
- Ann Arbor: 49 percent
- Bad Axe: 62 percent
- Baldwin: 78 percent
- Benton Harbor: 41 percent
- Chelsea: 47 percent
- Coldwater: 52 percent
- Charlevoix: 79 percent
- Detroit Metro Airport: 37 percent
- Dearborn: 41 percent
- Gladwin: 67 percent
- Grand Rapids: 58 percent
- Grayling: 86 percent
- Grosse Pointe: 36 percent
- Howell: 45 percent
- Jackson: 49 percent
- Kent County: 59 percent
- Lansing: 58 percent
- Marquette: 88 percent
- Mt. Clemens: 37 percent
- Morenci: 39 percent
- Muskegon: 63 percent
- Pontiac: 49 percent
- Saginaw: 55 percent
- Sault Ste Marie: 88 percent
- Traverse City: 73 percent
- White Cloud: 76 percent
The 1981–2010 Climate Normals are the latest three-decade averages of several climatological measurements. This collection contains daily and monthly normals of temperature, precipitation, snowfall, heating and cooling degree days, frost/freeze dates, and growing-degree days calculated from observations at approximately 9,800 stations operated by NOAA’s National Weather Service.
You can cruise around the country on the NOAA map here.