If you’re dreaming of a white Christmas this year, you might want to head to upstate New York.
There’s a 48.4% probability that snowflakes will fall on Dec. 25 in Rochester and a 44.9% probability in Buffalo — placing those two cities at the top of the list for a possible snowy holiday.
That’s according to data collected by Rent.com, a digital real estate marketing site targeting first-time renters (at least some of whom might want to know how much of the white stuff their chosen city is likely to get around year’s end).
You don’t have to travel to the northwestern reaches of the Empire State to see Christmas snow, however. Reviewing Rent.com’s data, 24/7 Tempo has assembled a list of the 50 major American cities with the best chance of a Yuletide snowfall. (And here’s a list of the snowiest county in every state.)
While Rochester and Buffalo might lead the list in terms of probability, they’re hardly the cities that will see the most snow if it does arrive. Their average historic snowfall on snowy Christmas days is a mere 2.2 and 2.9 inches, respectively, in those cities. Some 13 other cities on our list get an average of more than 5 inches — and Denver’s average is a knockout 25.7 inches.
There must be something about the Rockies, because the all-time record for snowfall in one 24-hour period — though not on Christmas Day — was 6 feet, 4 inches, which blanketed Boulder County, Colorado, during a blizzard in 1921. (These are the places with the biggest snowfall in history in every state.)
Rent.com based their computations on an integrated database of land surface weather stations maintained by the National Centers for Environmental Information’s Global Historical Climatology Network. The data covered a 184-year period, from 1836 to 2020, considering city-level information aggregated for stations within specific areas for the 100 largest U.S. cities by population. (Data wasn’t available for every year and location.)
The probability of snow on Christmas was calculated by dividing the total number of entries for Dec. 25 across all years for a given city by the number of entries where station readings revealed any snowfall. Average snowfall on Christmas was computed by dividing station snowfall readings by the number of entries for the aggregation that were greater than zero.
50. Tucson, Arizona
> Probability of a white Christmas: 2.4%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 4.9 inches
> Population: 548,073
49. Fort Worth, Texas
> Probability of a white Christmas: 2.5%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 5.9 inches
> Population: 909,585
48. Arlington, Texas
> Probability of a white Christmas: 2.5%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.3 inches
> Population: 398,854
47. Dallas, Texas
> Probability of a white Christmas: 2.5%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.6 inches
> Population: 1,343,573
46. Portland, Oregon
> Probability of a white Christmas: 2.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 0.9 inches
> Population: 654,741
45. El Paso, Texas
> Probability of a white Christmas: 3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.4 inches
> Population: 681,728
44. Raleigh, North Carolina
> Probability of a white Christmas: 3.1%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 0.8 inches
> Population: 474,069
43. Norfolk, Virginia
> Probability of a white Christmas: 3.3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 1.2 inches
> Population: 242,742
42. Irving, Texas
> Probability of a white Christmas: 3.3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 1.2 inches
> Population: 239,798
41. Virginia Beach, Virginia
> Probability of a white Christmas: 3.6%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.2 inches
> Population: 449,974
40. Greensboro, NC
> Probability of a white Christmas: 4%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.3 inches
> Population: 296,710
39. Tulsa, Oklahoma
> Probability of a white Christmas: 5.6%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.8 inches
> Population: 401,190
38. Wichita, Kansas
> Probability of a white Christmas: 5.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 5.5 inches
> Population: 389,938
37. San Bernardino, California
> Probability of a white Christmas: 6.3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.2 inches
> Population: 215,784
36. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
> Probability of a white Christmas: 6.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 10.2 inches
> Population: 655,057
35. Washington, D.C.
> Probability of a white Christmas: 7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 6.5 inches
> Population: 705,749
34. Seattle, Washington
> Probability of a white Christmas: 7.2%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.2 inches
> Population: 753,675
33. Lubbock, Texas
> Probability of a white Christmas: 7.4%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 5.6 inches
> Population: 258,862
32. Colorado Springs, Colorado
> Probability of a white Christmas: 7.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 7.7 inches
> Population: 478,221
31. Richmond, Virginia
> Probability of a white Christmas: 9.4%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.3 inches
> Population: 230,436
30. Kansas City, Missouri
> Probability of a white Christmas: 10.1%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 4 inches
> Population: 495,327
29. Louisville, Kentucky
> Probability of a white Christmas: 11.3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.1 inches
> Population: 617,638
28. Jersey City, New Jersey
> Probability of a white Christmas: 11.5%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 1.3 inches
> Population: 262,075
27. New York, New York
> Probability of a white Christmas: 11.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.4 inches
> Population: 8,336,817
26. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
> Probability of a white Christmas: 12%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.8 inches
> Population: 1,584,064
25. Baltimore, Maryland
> Probability of a white Christmas: 12.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.4 inches
> Population: 593,490
24. Reno, Nevada
> Probability of a white Christmas: 13.2%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 7 inches
> Population: 255,601
23. Cincinnati, Ohio
> Probability of a white Christmas: 13.4%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 1.6 inches
> Population: 303,940
22. Newark, New Jersey
> Probability of a white Christmas: 15.1%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.8 inches
> Population: 282,011
21. Denver, Colorado
> Probability of a white Christmas: 15.5%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 25.7 inches
> Population: 727,211
20. Albuquerque, New Mexico
> Probability of a white Christmas: 15.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 1.8 inches
> Population: 560,513
19. Lincoln, Nebraska
> Probability of a white Christmas: 15.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 5.3 inches
> Population: 289,102
18. Omaha, Nebraska
> Probability of a white Christmas: 17.3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 12.4 inches
> Population: 478,192
17. Toledo, Ohio
> Probability of a white Christmas: 17.4%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 1.9 inches
> Population: 272,779
16. Aurora, Colorado
> Probability of a white Christmas: 20.5%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 7.5 inches
> Population: 379,289
15. Des Moines, Iowa
> Probability of a white Christmas: 21.6%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 5.4 inches
> Population: 214,237
14. Chicago, Illinois
> Probability of a white Christmas: 23.3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.2 inches
> Population: 2,693,976
13. Columbus, Ohio
> Probability of a white Christmas: 24.6%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.2 inches
> Population: 898,553
12. Madison, Wisconsin
> Probability of a white Christmas: 24.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.2 inches
> Population: 259,680
11. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
> Probability of a white Christmas: 25.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.1 inches
> Population: 590,157
10. Cleveland, Ohio
> Probability of a white Christmas: 25.9%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.2 inches
> Population: 381,009
9. Boston, Massachusetts
> Probability of a white Christmas: 26.7%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 4.6 inches
> Population: 692,600
8. Spokane, Washington
> Probability of a white Christmas: 30.8%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2 inches
> Population: 222,081
7. Fort Wayne, Indiana
> Probability of a white Christmas: 31.1%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 1.9 inches
> Population: 270,402
6. Detroit, Michigan
> Probability of a white Christmas: 31.3%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2 inches
> Population: 670,031
5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
> Probability of a white Christmas: 32%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.1 inches
> Population: 300,286
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
> Probability of a white Christmas: 35.9%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 3.1 inches
> Population: 429,606
3. Anchorage, Alaska
> Probability of a white Christmas: 39.2%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 6.2 inches
> Population: 288,000
2. Buffalo, New York
> Probability of a white Christmas: 44.9%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.9 inches
> Population: 255,284
1. Rochester, New York
> Probability of a white Christmas: 48.4%
> Avg snowfall on Dec. 25: 2.2 inches
> Population: 205,695