Waking up to a White Christmas and a rainy day

Image 1 of 4

While the entire state is looking forward to a white Christmas, it’s rain and some freezing rain that will be the focal point for your Christmas Day.  That’s right, rain and not snow is what you will see as you look out the window Christmas morning. 

Yes, parts of the Upper Midwest will get some heavy snow, but for the metro and much of southern and central Minnesota, as well as most of Wisconsin, it will be rain. 

You have to head up toward Fargo, Grand Forks, and Thief River Falls to really find the snow.  In between those locations and the metro could be some icing with a few hours of freezing rain possible across Cabin Country, before changing over to a brief period of heavier snows. 

If you are traveling to Grandma’s house Christmas morning in and around the metro, just be aware of slippery spots.  While the bulk of the frozen precipitation will stay away from the metro, a couple hours of freezing drizzle will be possible in the morning before temperatures can pop back above the freeze mark.

So now the question is, how much snow will be left as you go to bed Christmas night? The determination of a White Christmas just means there has to be at least 1 inch of snow on the ground at 7am Christmas morning, but by 7pm, we will likely have had several hours of rain and temperatures near 40 degrees, so there may not be a whole lot of that snowpack left when you head to bed. 

Bummer for all those winter sports lovers.