GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Chances are Rudolph's red nose won't be needed to navigate any West Michigan winter storms this season, as a brown Christmas becomes almost certain.
We are just ten days away from the holiday with no chances for significant snow in the outlook. That combined with our oddly warm temperatures will keep a majority of this season's snowballs brown.
To technically call it a 'White Christmas' we need an inch or more of snow on the ground. The only way I foresee that happening would be a Christmas miracle, likely in the form of lake-effect snow. But even with lake-effect snow coming down, our temperatures will not favor it sticking around for long.
It's hard to believe that this time last year we had 17 inches of snow on the ground and a Christmas blizzard that shut down large portions of the country. Fast forward to today, and we are already 14 inches below average this season.
Now, this isn't completely out of the norm. Over the last ten years, we've seen a lower trend in White Christmases. Only 50% of Christmas days over the last ten years have had an inch or more of snow. And climate data shows that the 12 days of Christmas have warmed by 7° since 1969. Likely a trend that will continue with the impacts of climate change.
This year El Niño has a strong hold on our atmosphere, likely keeping us warm and dry not just for Christmas, but throughout a large portion of the winter season.
So, this season Santa's reindeer will be doing a lot of the work to keep the sled traveling across West Michigan.
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