Will we have a white Christmas this year? Although we haven’t had a real, authentic one in a few years, some future weather reports show that there might be a few snow showers on the days leading up to Christmas. 

In the past few years, Greenbrier County, West Virginia has not had enough snow on December 25th to call it a real White Christmas. In 2017, The Register-Herald reported that “southern West Virginia residents were very likely to wake up to a little snow on the ground in the morning, along with presents under the tree.”

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), West Virginia is not as likely to witness snow on December 25th as some other states such as Colorado, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. These are also known to be the best places to witness a white Christmas. The NOAA Christmas Day Historic Snowfall Probability map has gathered data dating from 1980 to 2010 about the probabilities of having one inch of snow on the ground Christmas morning. The Register-Herald says, “Richwood comes in at 46 percent, followed by Summersville at 32 percent, Beckley and Lewisburg at 30 percent, Renick at 26 percent, Union at 23 percent, Bluestone Lake at 17 percent, Pineville at 15 percent and Alderson at 12 percent.” They followed with saying Snowshoe leads the list at 62%. 

Although a white Christmas sounds like a good idea, do we even want one? All of the students at Greenbrier East that I interviewed were unanimous in their answers: They all wanted a white Christmas. Sophomore Maddie Carver said, “I strongly believe that we will have a white Christmas this year due to the cold weather we have had the past few weeks. And yes, I do want a white Christmas because it gets me in the holiday spirit.” Sophomore Sheridan Tolley said, “I want a white Christmas, but I do not think we will have one this year since we have not had one recently.” 

In my opinion, we could use a white Christmas here in southern West Virginia because it would get all of the residents in a holiday spirit and help all of us enjoy the holidays more.