Forecasters say no white Christmas for Chicago this year

Santa may need Rudolph’s help to guide his sleigh Christmas Eve.

Wednesday's forecast calls for “dreary conditions” and a “drizzling, murky evening,” with chances of fog and temperatures around 40 degrees in Chicago, according to National Weather Service meteorologist David King.

Those conditions are expected to pass by Thursday morning, Christmas Day, with skies remaining cloudy and temperatures around 40 degrees, King said.

“And then another chance for some wet showers that will pass through late Christmas night and into Friday morning, so much of Christmas Day, hopefully, is probably dry,” he said.

That means no white Christmas this year.

But a white Christmas, defined by at least an inch of snow on the ground, has happened about 40% of the Christmases in Chicago since 1884, when snowfall began to be tracked, according to the weather service. The last white Christmas in Chicago was 2022.

Chicago has already seen two record-breaking snowfalls this season.

The roughly 17 inches of snow that dropped in the area before Dec. 7 was the most in that time period since 1978, according to weather service data.

And Nov. 29 was the snowiest November day ever recorded in Chicago, when nearly 9 inches of snow was dumped across the area over two days, according to the weather service.

Following this week’s above-average temperatures, a cold front is expected to arrive and lower the temperatures Sunday night into the teens, King said. Temperatures are expected to stay in the 20s and teens Monday and into next week.