Will Albert Lea have a white Christmas?

That’s the question many are asking as the holiday is a little more than a week away, and we still have bare ground in our area.

According to the National Weather Service, the area’s next chance of precipitation is next Tuesday and Wednesday, but it’s too early to tell whether we will see rain or snow in that storm. A meteorologist with the National Weather Service said we have a 50/50 chance of getting snow.

According to the state climatology office, having a white Christmas is loosely defined as having 1 inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day. Snow depths are usually measured once a day, usually in the mornings.

In 116 years of snow depth measurements in the Twin Cities, a white Christmas happens about 72 percent of the time. From 1899 to 2014, there have been 33 years with either a zero or trace amount of snow. The last time the Twin Cities saw a brown Christmas was 2014, and the deepest snow cover on Christmas Day was in 1983 with 20 inches.

In 45 years of snow depth measurements in Albert Lea, a white Christmas happens about 69 percent of the time.

Thirty-three percent of the time, Albert Lea has seen 5 inches of snow, and 16 percent of the time Albert Lea has 10 inches of snow or more.

Last year, the city barely had a white Christmas, as it had an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day after seeing a trace amount of snow on Christmas Eve and an inch on Dec. 23.

While we’ve enjoyed the mild weather this winter, it would be nice to have a little snow next week on Christmas.