A snowless Christmas in Leelanau County?
It happens. And it’s forecast to happen again on Monday.
But topping the delightful Christmas of 1983 for getting outdoors would be difficult regardless of how high the mercury rises.
“I do remember going out and playing golf that Christmas,” recalled Tom Van Pelt, a fruit farmer from Leelanau Township. “It was almost 60 degrees, as I recall. There were a few of us who went up to Northport Point. We walked the course. In the fall they would let (members of) the fire department go out there.”
Another golfer who took advantage of the unseasonable warmth was Leelanau Township Fire and Rescue chief Hugh Cook, who served with Van Pelt as volunteer firefighters 41 years ago.
“I was golfing with my brother and a couple other guys. It was sunny, warm, a little breezy,” he said.
So did Cook shoot a low-scoring round?
“I could lie and say sure, but I don’t remember. We walked because there were no carts. It was fun. We actually golfed again the first of the year, too,” Cook said.
While the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast doesn’t call for golfing weather, it should be much warmer than normal for Christmas. After a snowless end to the week and weekend, temperatures are predicted to fall to 34 degrees on Christmas Eve and rise to 47 with rain expected on the big day.
“I know it’s still nearly a week out, but the chances are getting better every day for a green Christmas,” said NWS meteorologist Shawn Chistensen, who works in Gaylord, on Tuesday afternoon. “We’ll have quiet weather for a couple days with a low chance of precipitation on Friday with rain or a wintry mix. Highs will be well above normal …” The winter of 1982 — or lack thereof — was part of a NWS office discussion this week as meteorologists compared atmospheric patterns between the years.
“I think 1982 was also a very strong El Niño year, and the pattern is very similar to what we are hearing this year. What we can expect (for winter) is what we’re seeing now, warmer-thannormal temperatures and less precipitation. It’s not like it can’t still get cold, but for the overall outlook that’s what you can expect,” Christensen said.
While the NWS has not released climatology statistics of past Christmas weather specifi cally for Leelanau County, it did so for Traverse City. The chance for a white Christmas there is 79%, with records kept since 1896.
However, statistics are posted for weather recordings taken at NWS volunteer stations in Leelanau County, including one in the Maple City area. That webpage shows the the last snowless winter was recorded in 2021.
Over the past 20 years, snow has been lacking on Christmas Day in Maple City only two other times. One was in 2015, when no snow was measured but a trace fell on Christmas Day. The other was in 2006, when 30 inches of the white stuff had fallen in December but apparently all had melted before Santa could get off the ground. By Christmas Day 2013 — the snowiest and one of the coldest winters on record — 30 inches of snow lay on the ground. Records have been kept at Maple City since the late 1950s.
As to the highest temperature recorded on Christmas, that was 57 degrees in — you guessed it — 1982.
But what Mother Nature gives she can take away. The record low daytime temperature came on Christmas one year later, when the mercury struggled to reach 9 degrees.
