Tag Archives: Columbus Ohio December weather

The December 2007 Clipper and Cold

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Forecasts on December 4th, 2007 called for a weak, fast-moving clipper to affect much of the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and east to the Mid-Atlantic coast. Most forecasts in Ohio had the area south of I-80 down to just north of the Ohio River getting 1-3″ of snowfall, with a potential max of 2-4″ in south-central Ohio from Dayton to Chillicothe.

The forecast for Columbus on December 4th, 2007 from the Wilmington National Weather Service:

OHZ045-046-054>056-065-051015-
UNION OH-DELAWARE-MADISON-FRANKLIN OH-LICKING-FAIRFIELD-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…MARYSVILLE…DELAWARE…LONDON…
COLUMBUS…NEWARK…LANCASTER
355 PM EST TUE DEC 4 2007

…SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM EST
WEDNESDAY…

.TONIGHT…FLURRIES WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW THIS
EVENING…THEN SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW LATE. SNOW
ACCUMULATION AN INCH OR LESS. LOWS IN THE MID 20S. LIGHT NORTHEAST
WINDS…BECOMING SOUTHEAST AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF SNOW 100
PERCENT.
.WEDNESDAY…SNOW IN THE MORNING…THEN SNOW LIKELY IN THE
AFTERNOON. TOTAL ACCUMULATION OF 2 TO 3 INCHES. HIGHS IN THE
LOWER 30S. NORTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH…BECOMING NORTH 10 TO
15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF SNOW 100 PERCENT.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE EVENING…THEN BECOMING
PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 15 TO 20. NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH…
DECREASING TO AROUND 5 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

Snowfall began in western Ohio at about 10pm and reached central Ohio by midnight on the 4th. It began as flurries and light snow showers but gradually increased in intensity overnight and into the morning of the 5th, becoming heavy at times. By the time that the snowfall ended around 2:30pm in the afternoon, 4-6″ covered most of central Ohio, with the heaviest accumulations right near the I-70 corridor. Another max of snow occurred along a Mansfield to Canton line where a general 4-6″ also occurred.

The night of the 5th-6th brought a cold night for most of Ohio as clear skies after the storm and snow-covered ground sent temperatures far below normal. Most areas saw temperatures in the single digits, and many even fell into the single digits below zero. For Columbus, the low of 9 was the second lowest temperature ever recorded for the 6th of December.



Snowiest Christmas Eve in History

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Snowiest Christmas Eve in history Columbus, Ohio

White Christmases are pretty rare in the Columbus, Ohio area. An inch or more has fallen on the date only 11 times since 1878. An official White Christmas, however, is defined as having 1″ or more snow on the ground, not necessarily falling on the day itself. That has only happened 21 times since 1939, with only 4 of those times coming since 2000. So these white holidays are relatively rare.

A white Christmas Eve has been even less likely. 1″ or more has been on the ground on December 24th just 16 times since 1939.

Accumulating snow is not all that rare for Christmas Eve. It’s occurred 31 times since 1878, or about once every 4-5 years. So not exactly an annual occurrence, but it happens at least a few times per decade. However, most of those instances were less than 1″ of snow- in fact, 27 of the 31 times were less than 1″. That means 1″ or more of snow has fallen on Christmas Eve just 4 times in the last 142 years, a very rare event indeed.

The largest Christmas Eve snowfall until this year was just 2.7″ in 1980. This year’s Christmas Eve snowstorm brought anywhere from 2″-8″ across the Columbus metro area. In Franklin County, 3″-5″ was common. Officially, the airport received 3.4″ on the 24th, which counts as the largest Christmas Eve snowstorm in Columbus history. Snow was still falling lightly Christmas day, so a little more could be added to the final storm total, but another official White Christmas has gone into the books.

To see snowfall reports across the area, check out this map:
https://www.weather.gov/source/crh/snowmap.html?zoom=8&lat=39.5&lon=-82.33&hr=48

And to view other local December and winter weather records, follow the links below.
December Weather Records
Winter Season Records
Current weather and forecasts can be found here: Wilmington National Weather Service