For all of you white Christmas hopefuls, know that a typical Dec. 25 in North Texas reaches the mid-50s with little-to-no measurable precipitation.
But as National Weather Service records show, sometimes the biggest surprise on Christmas Day can be the weather.
Just last year, it was a record-breaking 80 degrees. The year before that, on Dec. 26, a dozen tornadoes tore through the region. In 2012, a cold front brought hail, sleet and half a foot of snow to parts of Denton and Collin counties.
There are many more examples.
Here's a look at 12 days of unusual Christmastime weather in North Texas, spanning from 2016 all the way back to 1841.
Weather of Christmases past
Source: National Weather Service in Fort Worth
2016: The high reached 80 degrees; the low was 69. That made it the hottest Christmas since the National Weather Service started keeping track.
2015: After a warm 73-degree Christmas, the next day brought extreme weather. Dec. 26 reached a high of 82, and tornadoes ravaged Rowlett, Garland and Sunnyvale and killed 13 people. KERA focused on North Texas recovering from this storm in a series called "Rebuilding A Life."
2012: Early morning thunderstorms gave way to snow and sleet. Western Denton County and Collin County saw between 4 and 6 inches.
Take a drive around Dallas on that Christmas day in 2012.
2009: Snow was still on the ground from a rare blizzard on Christmas Eve. The 3 inches of snow at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was the first measurable snowfall on record for Dec. 24. Some places northwest of the metro area received as much as 9 inches of snow — from Jacksboro to Bowie to northwestern Cooke County. Winds gusted over 50 mph, with drifts as high as 5 feet.
2000: Nearly 2 inches of rain fell during the evening with freezing temperatures. The Dallas-Fort Worth area was spared any minor freezing rain. This is the wettest Christmas on record.
A typical Christmas in Dallas-Fort Worth: A high of 56 degrees.
1997: On Christmas Eve, there were a few flurries with rain, and on Christmas morning, about half an inch of snow covered parts of the metro.
1983: The high reached just 18 degrees and the low dropped to 6. It's the coldest Christmas on record. Texas wasn't alone; this was a historically cold Christmas for much of the country.
1975: Less than half an inch of snow fell, but it was the first almost white Christmas in nearly 50 years.
1929: Texas experienced one of its heaviest snow events in history on Dec. 21. From Clifton to Hillsboro, 2 feet of snow fell. Snowfall in excess of 12 inches stretched from Goldthwaite and Lampasas to Corsicana and Athens. Central Texas saw 10 to 16 inches of snow, but only a trace was recorded in Dallas-Fort Worth.
1926: Two inches of snow fell in Fort Worth; it melted by afternoon. Dallas received over 6 inches of snow.
1879: One inch of sleet and snow was on the ground. "It was said that the snow and sleet was so compacted that a horse's hoof did not leave an imprint in the snow," the weather service reports.
1841: The earliest white Christmas on record in North Texas: Three soldiers from a nearby fort were tracking a bear in 6 inches of snow near what is now White Rock Lake.
Learn more
- Every white Christmas event in North Texas
- Christmas Day climate in North Texas
- Notable snow and ice events in North Texas