National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

If you are hoping for a white Christmas in Wichita, you're likely to be disappointed.

For official records a White Christmas is defined by 1 inch or more of snow on the ground. It can either fall Christmas day, or have been on the ground from a previous storm.

There have only been 12 white Christmas's recorded since records have been kept in Wichita. This gives Wichita around a 10 percent chance for a White Christmas for any given year. The last time we had a White Christmas was back in 2002 when we had 2 inches of snow on the ground. The biggest snowstorm to hit Wichita on December 25th was 4 inches, which fell way back in 1894. The most snow on the ground for Christmas occurred in 1894 and 1962 with 4 inches.

As for temperature extremes, the coldest Christmas on record occurred in 1983, when the low was -6, with a high of 10 above. The warmest was in 1960, when the mercury soared to 65 degrees.

For additional holiday climate information, click here.