Which occurs more often: White Christmas in NYC or Wet Christmas in L.A.? (climate, snowfall)

[AdriannaSmiling]

Which is more common?


Measurable snowfall in NYC on Christmas Day

or

Measurable rainfall in Los Angeles on Christmas Day

[alex985]

Probably a wet Christmas in L.A. It's during their wet season, and the chance of a white Christmas in NYC is about 10-15% if I'm not mistaken.

[deneb78]

I think NYC wins by a slight margin. There is a 22% chance of a White Xmas in NYC vs an average of 5.2 rain days in December for LA. If we take that as a percentage that out it's about 17% chance of rain on any given day in December.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_C..._United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles#Climate

[alex985]

^^ Interesting. I thought the chance was lower than that.

[nei]

A white Christmas is defined as having one inch or more on the ground. The OP asked about measurable snowfall, which is probably rarer.

[nei]

see

National Weather Service Forecast Office - Upton, NY

I counted 18 Christmases with measurable snowfall since 1870.

[alex985]

So that's 18/143 or roughly 12.6%. So I go with my original response.

[Caleb Yeung]

LA getting a wet christmas. NYC's winters aren't too different from a subtropical winter.

[Adi from the Brunswicks]

Wet christmas.

NYC always loses out on a white christmas while cities less than 100 miles north get it. Painful .

[Pincho-toot]

I picked New York. It may not be Fargo, but it's not Savannah either.