MOLINE, Ill — Snow of any type has been hard to come by so far this winter season as an El Nino pattern continues to influence the track of cold and storm systems heavily. The pattern, including the warmer temperatures this December is a textbook characteristic of the phenomenon.
Mary from Davenport, Iowa, asked, "Is it true that a green Christmas means we'll see more snow in April?" Let's dig in!
When we say 'green Christmas,' we're talking about a Christmas Day in the Quad Cities that either had no new measurable snowfall or no existing snowpack on the ground.
Bad news for snow lovers
We have snowfall data in the Quad Cities dating back to the winter of 1884-1885, so we'll use that as a base. Going back through the data, there have been 62 years featuring a 'green Christmas.' Of those years, only 13 years featured above-average snowfall the following April. The average snow for the Quad Cities in April is around 4.4 inches. That's less than a quarter of the time!
It was, however, widespread to see at least some snow in the April months that followed a lackluster December in terms of snowfall. So, overall, the probability of seeing more snow than normal the following April is quite low.
April has brought some heavier snow
Some of those 13 years have included record-setting snows, like April of 1997 which featured more than a foot of snow for the month, 13.3 inches! April of 1982 wasn't far behind pulling in 13 inches of wet snow. Quite a feat considering the increasing sun angle for the time of year which doesn't allow snow to stick around long at all.
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