The Northland will have a white Christmas again in 2009, with an inch or more of snow on the ground, as it almost always does.
But this year it may also snow significantly on Christmas Day for the first time in more than 20 years.
Duluth's snowiest Christmas Day was in 1982, when 6.9 inches fell. The last time we had an inch or more of snow fall on Christmas was 1.2 inches in 1985.
The National Weather Service says an official white Christmas has at least one inch of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. on Christmas Day. Northern Minnesota is one of the few areas of the continental U.S., outside of higher elevations, where a white Christmas is almost guaranteed, according to the Minnesota Office of Climatology.
The Duluth airport has a 98 percent chance of having an inch or more snow on the ground on Christmas, compared with 100 percent in Cook and the Gunflint trail and 71 percent in the Twin Cities.
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Duluth last had a brown Christmas in 2006. But 2007 and 2008 saw 19 and 17 inches on the ground by Christmas Day. We probably won't have that much this year. But the forecast calls for more than the current 4 inches on the ground.
The normal Christmas Day high in Duluth is 20, with a low of 2. The warmest ever was in 1999 when it hit 44, and the coldest ever was 1879 when it hit 34 below zero.
