The stuff of myths

'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....'

According to the Fairbanks Museum in Saint Johnsbury, VT, on their journal:

I was looking at the Fairbanks Museum weather records this month, and it reminded me of an interesting phenomenon that happens near Christmas. Average temperatures have been plunging all month, but from the 22nd to the 27th, the long-term temperature mean rises about 2 degrees F. This may not sound like much, but its persistence over the years suggests a Christmas thaw more years than not.

I could tell you that. Every Christmas I put in the service register the weather. More often than not it is freezing rain, sleet or rain, just crud. We're going to get sleet/freezing rain/rain Christmas Day (so enjoy the snow, Virginia!). I can only remember one Christmas in the past 16 years when it has snowed so hard that it was hard getting about.

Then the temperature drops for New Year's Day — up north for many years on the Feast of the Holy Name, it would be anywhere from -5 to -15.

'I'm dreaming of a white Easter' is more like it for these parts.