As Christmas gets closer everyone always wonders if we are going to get the proverbial white Christmas. Unfortunately, if you look at Denver and Thornton weather history, the chances arent all that good but it also depends on what you define as a white Christmas. December just isnt that snowy of a month, ranking as only the fourth (behind March, November and April).

If a white Christmas means having more than an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day, then the chances are about 36%. Since 1900, a mere 40 Christmas Days have had snow on the ground.

But, if you think a white Christmas means actually having measurable snowfall (at least 0.1 inch) on the holiday itself, then the odds drop down to only 13%! Only 14 Christmas Days since 1900 have had the white stuff actually fall on that day.

Recent history though does offer better chances. Since 1973, 19 years had 1 inch or more of snow on the ground for Santa Claus deliveries which is about 53 percent of the time. Seven Christmas Days had measurable snowfall which is about 21 percent of the time.

Having said all of that, there have been some pretty significant snow events around Christmas.

The Christmas Eve blizzard of 1982 gave us the most snow ever on the ground for a Christmas Day with 24 inches! Christmas Day itself that year though saw a mere 0.2 inches of new snowfall but as I recall, we werent too disappointed about that as we spent the holiday just trying to dig out from Christmas Eves snowfall!

Some other significant Christmas Day snow depths were: 19 inches in 1913; 11 inches in 1918; and 12 inches in 1973 and 15 inches in 2006. The heaviest snowfall on Christmas Day itself was 7.8 inches which occurred in 2007 and the second most was 6.2 inches recorded in 1894.

...Christmas Day 2008...

A rather mild day was the highlight of Christmas Day 2008. Denver officially reached a high temperature of 48 degrees that day – five degrees above normal. Thornton fared even better with a high temperature of 53 degrees. While no snow fell on the day, it was a white Christmas in that there was still one inch of snow on the ground from previous snows. Denver officially recorded 10.3 inches of snow which was 1.7 inches above normal. Thornton had a bit more with 12 inches of snow for the month.

...Christmas Day 2007...

Between Christmas Day and December 27th, Denver was struck with two major winter snow storms that combined to push December 2007 into the 6th snowiest Denver December on record. On Christmas Day itself, Denver recorded 7.8 inches setting a record for Christmas Day snow since Denver began keeping records in 1882. The previous record was 6.2 inches set in 1894. Thornton didn't receive near as much however recording only 3.6 inches on the day last year. Officially Denver received 20.9 inches of snow in December 2007 as it set the 6th place record. Thornton recorded 17.9 inches for the month. The most December snowfall ever was 57.4 inches set in 1913 which is also the snowiest month ever recorded in the city.

...Christmas Day 2006...

Christmas Day 2006 was definitely a white Christmas. In the days leading up to the holiday, we saw a major snowstorm on December 21st that dumped over 22 inches of snow in Thornton. This was coupled with cold days and extremely cold nights. On Christmas Day itself, just over 1/2 of an inch of snow fell. While the kids loved it, adults were less enthused and this began weeks of poor conditions for the Denver area. Eight more inches fell on the 29th and smaller accumulations fell in January all while maintaining frigid temperatures. Snow covered most yards and sidestreets for weeks! December 2006 became the third snowiest December on record and surprisingly, this was with only four days of measurable snowfall.

...Christmas Day 2005...

It was warm and dry on Christmas Day 2005. Only 4.1 inches of snowfall was recorded for the entire month and that occurred near the beginning of the month. It was completely dry from December 21st through December 31st. The temperatures ranged from 69 to 35 degrees.

...Christmas Day 2004...

Precipitation occurred on 3 days prior to Christmas (Tuesday 21 through Thursday 23) but no snow fell on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day. But because temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday did not exceed the freezing mark and the low temperature on Christmas Eve (Friday) dropped to 2 degrees above zero...a white Christmas (Saturday) was enjoyed by Denverites. This in spite of the fact that the Christmas eve high jumped up to 46 degrees and Christmas Day had a high of 56 degrees and a low of 28. So for the record...Christmas Day 2004 was a white Christmas in spite of no snow falling on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

...Christmas Day 2003...

It was dry and warm on Christmas Day 2003. A high temperature was 51 degrees and a low of 26. Absolutely no chance for any snow for Denver. There was some snow in the higher foothills and for the mountains west of Denver but by the time the atmosphere moved out over the Denver metro area...the air had dried out enough to only allow for a few mid and high level clouds.

...Christmas Day 2002...

It was again cold enough to snow but there was very little...if any...moisture available to convert into snow. In fact...during the entire month of December...only a trace of snow was recorded...on the 6th and again on the 19th. It was a very dry month to end what became the driest year in Denver weather history. The high and low temperatures on Christmas Day last year were 36 and 11 degrees respectively.

...Christmas Day 2001...

Another cool Christmas Day...however there was very little moisture in atmosphere surrounding Denver. It did snow on the 22nd...0.6 inch...but clear skies on Saint Nick day eliminated any chance of snow. There was a trace of snow left on the ground left over from the dusting that occurred on the 22nd. Temperatures for Christmas Day 2001 ranged from a high of 38 down to a low of 20 degrees.

...Christmas Day 2000...

Late on Christmas Eve...light snow began to fall across the metro area. The snow continued in the light category until late in the evening on Christmas Day. The official temperature for Christmas Day ranged from a high of 24 degrees after an early morning low of 16 degrees. Some of the snow readings registered around the area on Christmas Day 2000 were:

Cherry creek reservoir 1.3 inches
Denver-Stapleton 0.9 inches
Downtown Denver 1.3 inches
Evergreen 1.6 inches
Longmont 1.5 inches
Morrison 1.8 inches
Ralston reservoir 0.5 inch

The following is a list of the years since 1900 where there was at least one or more inches of snow on the ground and/or 0.1 inch of new snowfall on December 25th.

Years with no snow are not list from 1900-1979.

From 1980 - 2006 All Years Are Listed

Portions from National Weather Service, Boulder, CO