Last Triad white Christmas: 1969
By Mary Anderson
Staff Writer, The Courier-Tribune
ASHEBORO - Kids who get sleds will just have to be patient to try them
out. The chance of snow in the Triad on Christmas Day is less than 5 percent,
according to the National Weather Service.
Especially this year. The prediction for this Christmas is for a mostly
sunny day with a high of 40 degrees.
Weather records were not available from the Asheboro Water Plant on Thursday
afternoon, but a check with the National Weather Service at the Piedmont
Triad Airport gives some indication of Christmases past in our area. Randolph
County, northern Moore County and eastern Montgomery County are usually
close to predictions from the Piedmont Triad Airport where wea-ther records
go back to 1933.
In the Triad, the weather on Dec. 25 is usually partly cloudy with precipitation
once every three years. Daytime highs average 48 degrees and morning lows
30 degrees.
The snowiest Christmas on record for the Triad was in 1947 when 2.8 inches
of snow fell. Since then, the only measurable snowfalls, defined as one-tenth
of an inch or more, were on Christmas Day in 1962 when there was eight-tenths
of an inch and in 1969 when 1.1 inches of snow fell.
Light flurries fell on Christmas Day in 1948, 1970, 1975, 1981, 1993
and 1998.
1998 was the year remembered for the ice storm that snarled traffic,
closed businesses and caused power failures throughout the area. The sleet
and freezing rain began falling on Dec. 23 and continued into the morning
of Dec. 24 before changing to rain. Just a few flurries fell on Dec. 25.
In 1935 and 1963, there was an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas
morning from previous snowfalls and 2 inches in 1966.
The record high for Dec. 25 is 74, set in 1955, and the record low is
1 degree, set in 1983.
The yearly snowfall at the Piedmont Triad Airport averages around 9 inches.
The average for December is only 1.3 inches followed by January, 3.5 inches;
February, 2.4 inches; and March, 1.7 inches.
The last two winters have exceeded the averages by considerable amounts.
In 2002-03, there was 15.2 inches of snow and last winter the airport recorded
18.5 inches.
Copyright 2002, Stephens Media Group
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