Is There A Good Chance It Snows On Christmas Day In Amarillo?

It's the opening to one of the most iconic Christmas songs around. "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" rings through our ears every holiday season, making us wish and hope that we'll get exactly that in Amarillo.

The thing about a white Christmas is that is doesn't seem to happen very often here in the panhandle. It doesn't stop us from holding out that sliver of hope we're going to get it.

If you go to Climate.gov, you're able to look up how often each state has gotten at least one inch of snow on Christmas Day between the years of 1991 and 2020. Texas isn't a state that tends to get a lot of snow as a whole, you really do have to be in the right place to stand a REAL chance of that white Christmas.

Thankfully, living in the Texas Panhandle, we have a much greater chance than the majority of the state. Our climate here and proximity to places that get a lot of snow like Colorado allows us the chance to get snow and actually expect it. When a place like Austin gets snow, it's a major surprise and event.

So what are the chances that Amarillo catches themselves that almost mythical white Christmas? Based on the data from Climate.gov, we have a 9.3% chance that snow will be falling on December 25th. Truthfully, that's not too bad when you consider somewhere like El Paso stands only a 1.5% chance.

For Texas, our chances are solid for snow on Christmas Day, but it only ranks us 8th in the panhandle if you can believe it. Who has the top chance at a white Christmas in Texas?

It's actually a tie between Hereford and Pampa at 12.4%. I can see that actually. When we were driving home from Colorado over the Thanksgiving weekend, we saw snow on the ground for the majority of our drive, but once we were about an hour outside of Amarillo, the snow magically disappeared.

Harley, Perryton, and Umbarger rounded out the top five, with Dalhart being the only one outside the top five with a 10% or greater chance of a white Christmas.

So is it LIKELY that Amarillo gets that white Christmas? Maybe not. Is it a decent possibility though? It absolutely is.