Tag Archives: Christmas

Christmas Day Climatology

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Christmas Day climatology Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio weather is has varied wildly over the 143 years of records, and the holidays are no different. It’s seen record warmth into the 60s, and record cold well below zero, as well as heavy snow and driving rainstorms. The records below break down Columbus’ historic Christmas Day climatology.

Normals 1991-2020
High: 35.6
Low: 23.1
Mean: 26.8
Precipitation: 0.10″
Snowfall: 0.1″

1878-2020 Averages
High: 36.4
Low: 23.5
Mean: 30.1
Precipitation: 0.08″
Snowfall: 0.3″

First, let’s take a look at the temperature breakdowns for the holiday.

Top 10 Coldest Highs
1. 1983: 1
2. 1878: 10
3. 1924: 11
4. 1980: 15
5. 1902: 16
6. 1985: 17
7. 2020: 18
8. 1884, 2000: 19
9. 1899, 1906, 1914:20
10. 1950, 1968: 22

Top 10 Coldest Lows
1. 1983: -12
2. 1980: -5
3. 1935: -4
4. 1924: -3
5. 1878: -2
6. 2004: -1
7. 1985: 1
8. 2000: 2
9. 1884: 4
10. 1914, 1999: 7

Top 10 Warmest Highs
1. 1893: 64
2. 1982: 63
3. 1932, 1940: 62
4. 1889: 60
5. 1964: 58
6. 1895, 1955: 57
7. 2019: 56
8. 1891: 55
9. 1936, 2015: 53
10. 1888, 1915, 1987: 52

Top 10 Warmest Lows
1. 1889, 1982: 55
2. 1895: 52
3. 1893: 49
4. 1891: 45
5. 2015: 43
6. 1932, 1940: 40
7. 1888, 1964, 1973: 39
8. 1987: 38
9. 1922, 1941, 2009, 2016: 37
10. 1936, 1972: 36

Number of Christmases with High Temperature
Less than 10: 1
10-19: 8
20-29: 24
30-39: 54
40-49: 36
50-59: 12
60 or Higher: 5

Number of Christmases with Low Temperature
Less than 0: 6
0-9: 7
10-19: 36
20-29: 47
30-39: 38
40-49: 5
50 or Higher: 4



Now let’s example precipitation and snowfall records.

Top 10 Wettest
1. 2009: 0.79″
2. 1944: 0.77″
3. 1926: 0.69″
4. 1951: 0.58″
5. 2006: 0.57″
6. 1945: 0.54″
7. 1957: 0.52″
8. 1987, 2005: 0.51″
9. 1915: 0.48″
10. 1909: 0.47″

Number of Christmases with Precipitation Amount
0.00″: 46
Trace: 27
0.01″-0.24″: 55
0.25″-0.49″: 6
0.50″-0.74″: 7
0.75″-0.99″: 2
1.00″ or More: 0

Top 10 Snowiest
1. 1890: 7.0″
2. 1909: 5.7″
3. 1950: 3.0″
4. 1917: 2.5″
5. 1969: 2.3″
6. 1884: 2.2″
7. 1976: 1.9″
8. 1880: 1.8″
9. 1935: 1.3″
10. 1944: 1.2″

Most Snow on the Ground (Since 1940)
1. 1960: 9″
2. 1961, 1963, 1989, 1995: 4″
3. 1969, 1980, 2004: 3″
4. 1947, 1950, 2000: 2″
5. 1944, 1945, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2010, 2017: 1″

Number of Christmases with Snowfall Amount
0.0″: 75
Trace: 23
0.1″-0.4″: 20
0.5″-0.9″: 9
1″-2.9″: 7
3″ or More: 3



Columbus Christmases Past Photos

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These Columbus Christmases past photos give a short walk down memory lane of one of the most popular and favorite holidays.

Date: 1952
Location: Corner of W. Town Street and S. Ludlow Street along the Scioto River.
Columbus Christmases Past Photos
Santa and Mrs. Claus ride on a float in the annual Lazarus Christmas parade.

Date: 1980
Location: Ohio Expo Center Multipurpose Building at 717 E. 17th Avenue.

The Festival of Trees was an annual event sponsored by Children’s Hospital and Nationwide for charities. In 1980, there were 82 themed Christmas trees on display, which people could buy for at prices up to $1,000 each.

Date: Christmas Day, 1983
Location: Corner of Ebner and Columbus Street, German Village

Christmas 1983 was one of the coldest on record, with a high of just 1 degree above zero and an average temperature of -6. The cold caused water mains to burst in several locations, including in German Village, which some children took advantage of for a little fun.

Date: 1965
Location: 518 E. Broad Street

State Auto Mutual Insurance began holding a Christmas lighting event every year beginning in 1931.

Date: Around 1955
Location: Lazarus Department Store, South High Street

Lazarus was famous for its window Christmas displays for well over 100 years, with many being very elaborate. The Christmas displays continued until the 2000s.

Date: 1992
Location: Scioto Riverfront, Downtown

The replica of Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria, decorated for Christmas in the photo, sat in Battelle Riverfront Park from 1991 until it was permanently dismantled during construction of Scioto Greenways in 2014.