Snow is standard here, but the past couple Christmases I've visited family in Seattle, where it is a lot more unusual. I remember 2016, when it started snowing big, wet flakes on Christmas morning, when we were opening gifts. It was Hallmark movie-like in the excellent timing.

Last year it snowed Christmas Eve; I remember watching the Seahawks NFL game with my brother before venturing out into the ice and snow for church services.

This year I'll be watching Christmas weather from here in the Upper Midwest. This upcoming week should be downright hot (possibly up to 34F/1C) which might melt some of our snow.

Hello. Sorry, but I always am obviously not very good at the whole social media thing.
Miss talking over the weather here, so I will try to get back into the swing of it.
As stargazer has pointed out already we usually have quite a bit of snow up this way. But the last few years we have been a little spoiled. While there have been some exciting storms, the totals when it comes to accumulation seems a bit on the tame side. I think it was about four, or five years ago when I had to climb up on the Wig-wam to shovel about four feet of the heavy stuff off. (Not that I look forward to a repeat performance )
From what I have seen on the news the SouthEastern United States is getting more than a taste of winter. With the mountains to contend with we can be gateful that we don't hear of more fatalities.

Our weather calmed down after the front that obliterated the southeastern states came through. It hasn't been quite so cold and it's dried out.
But we have a 20% chance for snow the night of Christmas! (yeah...right.)

Nice to read that your weather is running to what us Down Under rather believe it might be like. Here we have had reasonable weather so far. A few hot days here and there like an ominous warning of dire things to come. But lovely storm activity with healthy sounding overhead thunderbolts and flashes of lightning has kept the termperatures down to 35C or less, much of the time. We have had quite a wet December, which is something to be grateful for, and even a cyclone in North Queensland, but I'm not sure yet whether it is the yearly monsoon in Darwin or not. Actually I wonder what, technically, the monsoon is supposed to be. How, for example, does it tie into the El Nino phenomenon? By the way, Stargazer, thank you for your excellent and awesome explanations in past posts.

Meanwhile, tomorrow will be the summer solstice with temperatures due to soar to above 40C - yesterday was 47C at Bourke, NSW - and again this year I hope most sincerely for somewhat cooler & more reasonable temperatures for Christmas day, itself. Enjoy your lovely snowy Christmases, but please spare my feelings down here. As much as I might dream of a White Christmas it won't happen here, even in midwinter.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas to you too, wagga, and happy solstice.

The sun reaches its (apparent) southernmost point in the sky today at 2222 UTC (1622 in my time zone). It's the longest night here and the longest day Down Under.

The nights are long here but overcast. It even rained here the other night (almost unimaginable here in the frozen north), so there is minimal snow on the ground. This may be the 6th year in the last 20 to not have a white Christmas (normally our odds are much higher than that).

However, our meteorologists are all abuzz about a potentially large winter storm about a week from now. Depending on its track we may get lots of snow or a mix of freezing rain and snow.

6 inches of the white stuff--light and fluffy and drift-making. Hurray!

(Glad it waited till the day after Christmas, as we were travelling home on Christmas night.)

Now that Christmas is over, the Sydney to Hobart race won and lost, and New Year's Day fast approaches, the weather is heating up. So far these last few days we have maximum temperatures of 41C, 42C, & 41C. There are two or three months more before summer is finally finished, so I hope the weather doesn't get much hotter than this latest heatwave.

Happy New Year!

2019 began with our lowest temperatures of the season so far, -15F/-26C here in the city and a balmy -43F/-42C in the Nation's Icebox, International Falls.

And once again, the 'polar plunge' was a popular way to start the year (a hole is cut through the ice at a local lake and people jump in, usually as a fundraiser for a charity).

Cold here too, was 8(Farenheit) when I woke up. Supposed to warm up to the 20s at night after tomorrow from what I hear. Thank goodness we have plenty of firewood and coffee/tea/cocoa supplies

Oh, the joys of cold winter!
Where I live it's been in the high 60's for most of the week. Short sleeves are a common sight- but the forecasts are still whispering rumors of snow in the next couple of weeks. Stranger things have happened, I guess...

Happy New Year!

2019 began with our lowest temperatures of the season so far, -15F/-26C here in the city and a balmy -43F/-42C in the Nation's Icebox, International Falls.

And once again, the 'polar plunge' was a popular way to start the year (a hole is cut through the ice at a local lake and people jump in, usually as a fundraiser for a charity).

Interesting temperatures. Freezing point is 32F = 0C, isn't it? And -30C = -22 F. On the way down do the two different scales converge somewhat? Today, 4th January, 2019, we can expect highs of 39C or more, and it is going to get worse as a heatwave crosses the state. The Earth, that means all of us, reached Perihelion yesterday at 4.20 pm our time in its elliptical path around the Sun. That is to say, the closest point to the Sun. When does the Earth reach its farthest point from the Sun, I wonder?

The earth usually is at aphelion (farthest from the sun) in the first few days of July. The timing varies a little depending on where we are in the leap year cycle.

The Celsius and Fahrenheit scales converge at -40.

Very warm here for January; we even set a few record highs the past few days (around 47F/8C). Amazing considering what it could be.

Some of your temperatures must be really cold then if it is worse than -40C.

The earth usually is at aphelion (farthest from the sun) in the first few days of July. The timing varies a little depending on where we are in the leap year cycle.

Where we are in the leap year cycle is about three quarters the way through, as next year, 2020, will be a leap year.

We've just been told that last year, 2018, was the third hottest year ever, displacing 2017 for that record. So far, although there have been quite a few bad days, when the maximum temperature was between 40C to 42C there hasn't been anything like as high temperatures as there was, especially on January 7th of 2018. (You will find it on page 81 or 82 of this thread). It has been mostly overcast and muggy, with some rain after the driest year on record up to last December when we did get a little rain.

Did anyone really have a White Christmas or even a White New Year after all?

No, although we have had a fair few flurries. Our main bulk of snow came in November and early December. Most days in January have been cold, and we have smidges of white around, but not nearly enough ... for me, anyway.

Having said that, we could have a major storm this coming weekend. Really hoping it keeps tracking our way, but we shall see. Immediately following the snow will be frigid cold, so if it does fall and accumulate, it will stay for awhile, yay!

Hoping for a clear night this Sunday for the total lunar eclipse, which should be a wonderful view here in the Americas.

We're about to get hit with a couple almost back to back winter storms here, and this morning the weather conditions were just like they were when we lived near Seattle and got a storm that dumped...I think it was 3 feet of snow. Of course I've lived through whiteouts/blizzards when you open the front door when it's over and are literally confronted with a wall of snow.