For those that like the extreme...

For those that like the extreme numbers for Knoxville, here they are, compliments of the NWS-Morristown. Could this happen? What about this? Has this ever happened before? See for yourself.  And chances are, if you grew up here, you can check off numerous events below, where you can say: "I remember that. I lived it!"

For more records from the National Weather Service in Morristown, click here.

Now, let’s talk “White Christmas.”  If you have seen my Winter Weather Outlook on the Home page of CaptainAccurate.com, you would already know where I stand on that idea for this year.  Nothing has changed there in my view.
 
But from a historical standpoint, Knoxville Records date back to the year 1871.  Think about that.  1871 to 2018 represents 147 years of data.  Obviously, I did not include December 2019 because it hasn’t happened yet.  But out of 147 years, Knoxville has had measurable snow on 12 different occasions on Christmas Day.

12 Christmases / 147 years = 0.0816

So, from this data sample, Knoxville averages a “White Christmas” only 8% of the time.  Not very high at all.  And yet, thanks to the likes of Bing Crosby and others, the famous song gets played over and over and over again each holiday season.
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I once had a viewer in Rochester call me one time to complain when we were undergoing a warm spell in December.  He said, “it’s not Christmas in upstate New York if it’s not white.”  To which I said, “Yes, but I’m not sure it was snowing in Bethlehem when Christ was born.”  Insert an awkward pause and then, he hung up on me.  You can’t win all, now can you?  :-)