Christmas weather statistics

There is significant year to year variability in terms of the Christmas weather in Finland, but in Lapland a white Christmas is almost guaranteed.

Probability of a white Christmas in Finland

On the left: Regional probability of a white Christmas. In Southwestern coast only every second Christmas is white. In Lapland a white Christmas prevails actually every year.
On the right: Average snow depth on December 24th.
The statistics are taken from the normal period of 1961-90.

Global climate is expected to warm in the upcoming decades and so will the winter months turn milder in Finland. Therefore the above statistics will probably not be applicaple in future decades.

Average temperature, snow depth and records in 1961-2004

The blue colour shows the average maximum and minimum temperatures on Christmas Eve. The records and the year of the record are shown in red. Green colour indicates the average snow depth.

 

Weather on Christmas Eve in 1971-2008

Both temperatures and snow depths vary extensively from Christmas to Christmas. Here Helsinki is representing the weather conditions in Southern Finland, Jyväskylä in Central Finland and Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland. 

The upper figure presents the daily maximum and daily minimum temperature in centigrades and the lower part shows the snow depth in centimeters.
 

Weather in Helsinki on Christmas Eve beginning from 1901

In the upper figure the red curve presents the daily mean temperature in centigrades and in the lower figure the snow depth in cm.