News - Blogs - White Christmas dreams becoming reality

White Christmas dreams becoming reality
Published: 12/24/2012 9:35 AM
Last Modified: 12/24/2012 10:34 AM

Your White Christmas dreams are about to become a reality. And they could become nightmares.

Winter Storm Warnings are now in effect for a large swath across Oklahoma and into Arkansas, with the latest forecast from the National Weather Service office in Tulsa calling for 4 to 8 inches of snow across central Oklahoma into western Arkansas, with 3 or so predicted for the Tulsa area.

Tulsa may avoid the brunt of this storm, but forecasters said not all models agree. The warning area is wide to account for where the brunt of the storm will most likely hit. Tulsa will most likely see at least some of this snow.

Winter storms are hard to predict because it can be difficult for the models to predict with accuracy most people are expecting where the snow band will form and move.

But, wherever the track and most significant snowfall occurs, travel will be difficult and hazardous. The winter storm warning says people should plan on moving those plans around if you had planned to travel Tuesday or Wednesday. And you may not have a choice if roads are closed, a real possibility.

On top of the snow, winds could gust to 30 mph, blowing snow everywhere and dropping wind chills to zero or below.

Those are not good conditions in which to be stuck.

But, doom and gloom aside for a moment, White Christmas!

That hasn't happened in Tulsa since 2009, when there was 6 inches of snow. That was also the last time it actually snowed on Christmas. You can see all that climatology and more at the Tulsa NWS climate page here.

So, technically a White Christmas for a historical climatological standpoint is at least 1 inch of snow on Christmas. We'll most likely get that, and most likely break records for most snow to fall on Christmas day, but since the Christmas snowfall total has been measured at 6 a.m., that record of 6 inches in 2009 will most likely stand.

If you look at the rest of the historical data, you can see that tomorrow's winter storm is definitely a rare event for Christmas Day. I can't really remember an event like this expected to occur actually on Christmas Day. The record for snow on Christmas Day is 1.3 inches in 1975. That record is in jeopardy tomorrow.

Snow contest update: When I saw the kids from Jenks Middle School pick Christmas for the first day of measurable snow, which was the tiebreaker for the total, I thought that was cute, but chances were slim to none. Well, it looks like Madison may have nailed it. That bright childhood optimism paid off!

But again on a serious note, if you plan to travel over the next few days, you should really pay attention to the weather and consider making changes. I'm a 20-something male, a demographic not known for making the wisest decisions when it comes to my own personal safety and I plan to leave the bulls eye of western Arkansas early to make sure I get back to Tulsa in time. If I've changed my plans, you should consider it.

If you absolutely must travel, do not mess around and prepare to be stranded if that occurs. Winter storms can be serious, and this one has that potential.

--Jerry Wofford

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

>> Visit the main weather page
>> Send us your weather photos
>> Meet the forecasters

Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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