(WKBW-TV) BUFFALO, NY — It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go. The idea of a white Christmas has been popularized for generations: in books and in culture. But did you know that there’s a meteorological definition of a white Christmas?
The idea of a "white Christmas" became popular during the Victorian era, thanks to the writings of Charles Dickens and the many snowfalls in the United Kingdom at the time. Irving Berlin further popularized the idea with that iconic song that comes to mind, which was first performed in the movie “Holiday Inn."
But there is also an actual scientific definition of a white Christmas, and there’s more to it than snow falling on the holiday.
According to the National Weather Service, the official definition of a white Christmas is to have one whole inch of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. on Christmas morning. Even if the ground was bare at 7 a.m., and snow arrived later on Christmas Day, it still wouldn’t qualify as white Christmas.
For Buffalo and Western New York, the odds are in our favor with roughly three out of every five qualifying as a white Christmas.
