The chances of a white Christmas in Chicago aren’t high, meteorologists say, but Dec. 25 might land in the record books as one of the warmest.
The holiday weekend is shaping up to be “warm and rather wet,” according to Todd Kluber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville. The weather service expects rain and clouds, with a high temperature near 53 degrees on Christmas.
“Wet and mild for late December,” he said. “We usually see cold and snowy, but we’re definitely not seeing that this time around.”
If the forecast holds, Kluber said this year would make the list for the top 10 warmest.
The warmest Christmas in Chicago was in 1982, when temperatures at O’Hare International Airport — the city’s official recording site — topped out at 64 degrees. Two of the top five warmest were in the past five years. 2019 holds the second spot at 57 degrees, and 2021 the fifth spot at 55 degrees, according to weather service data.
This forecast might be welcome news for the 3.4 million passengers catching flights at O’Hare and Midway airports from Wednesday to Jan. 2, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. O’Hare is projected to see a 4.6% passenger increase compared with last year, with Wednesday the busiest travel day.
Kluber said he predicts Christmas Eve will be relatively warm as well. The forecast shows cloudy skies with a chance of showers and a high near 52 degrees. From Saturday through Christmas, Kluber said high temperatures are expected to hover around 50, with lows in the mid- to upper 40s.
Due to a strong El Nino, scientists have predicted that Chicago’s winter will be milder and drier than normal this year.
“There’s still no sign of really cold air for the New Year, so the snow chances, while not zero, are looking pretty low here for the rest of the month,” Kluber said.
Most major cities in the United States probably won’t experience a white Christmas, a term the weather service uses when 1 inch or more of snow is on the ground on the morning of Dec. 25. Kluber said hundreds of miles northwest of Chicago, in the Great Plains or Dakotas, is where there’s the highest potential for snow on the holiday.
Chicago experienced a white Christmas last year, with 1 inch of snow on the ground at O’Hare. The most snowfall on Christmas in Chicago was in 1950, with 5.1 inches at Midway Airport.