In about half of the years since 1960, at least 5 percent of stations recorded snow falling on Christmas Day. A Dickensian-style white Christmas with widespread snow on the ground is much rarer.

Americans are obsessed with a white Christmas and all the trimmings – snow, icicles, sleigh rides, frost on window panes, cuddling up by the fire, mittens, the North Pole.

Dickens grew up in the 1810s and 1820s in England, when the Little Ice Age still had a grip on Europe. The Little Ice Age, which lasted from about 1300 to 1850, was a global period of widespread ...

A trace of snow also doesn't count, Weather.com reported. On average, about 38% of the Lower 48 has an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day, according to 21 years of data compiled by NOAA.

What's New December 25 is just around the corner, and many are hoping to see some snow on the ground that day—making it a magical white Christmas. An AccuWeather report has forecast that there ...