Average Snowfall for US Cities in December

The tables below give monthly averages for snowfall during December at the largest cities in the United States.

The numbers are for the total amount of new snow and how many days it snows at least 0.1 inches (0.25 centimetres) this month. Plus there's a summary of which cities in December are usually the snowiest.

The snowfall totals are averages based on weather data collected from 1991 to 2020 for the US National Centers for Environmental Information. The major cities listed here represent the 56 biggest metropolitan centers in the US, all those with over one million people in 2020.

Snowiest Cities in December

  • Most days with snowfall = 14 in Rochester
  • Greatest amount of new snow = 25.3 inches at Buffalo

Cities Without Snow in December

  • Normally no snow falls this month in Austin, Fresno, Honolulu, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Riverside, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Tampa
December snowfall averages by city
Days Place Inches Centi­metres
0.4 Atlanta, Georgia 0.4 1.0
0.1 Austin, Texas 0.0 0.0
1.5 Baltimore, Maryland 2.5 6.4
0.1 Birmingham, Alabama 0.2 0.5
4.2 Boston, Massachusetts 9.0 22.9
12.2 Buffalo, New York 25.3 64.3
0.3 Charlotte, North Carolina 0.4 1.0
6.3 Chicago, Illinois 7.9 20.1
4.6 Cincinnati, Ohio 4.1 10.4
8.4 Cleveland, Ohio 12.2 31.0
5.6 Columbus, Ohio 5.1 13.0
0.3 Dallas, Texas 0.3 0.8
4.6 Denver, Colorado 6.6 16.8
8.0 Detroit, Michigan 8.9 22.6
0.0 Fresno, California 0.0 0.0
11.9 Grand Rapids, Michigan 20.8 52.8
4.5 Hartford, Connecticut 10.1 25.7
0.0 Honolulu, Hawaii 0.0 0.0
0.1 Houston, Texas 0.1 0.3
Days Place Inches Centi­metres
5.6 Indianapolis, Indiana 6.4 16.3
0.0 Jacksonville, Florida 0.0 0.0
3.0 Kansas City, Missouri 4.0 10.2
0.1 Las Vegas, Nevada 0.2 0.5
0.0 Los Angeles, California 0.0 0.0
2.5 Louisville, Kentucky 2.2 5.6
0.3 Memphis, Tennessee 0.2 0.5
0.0 Miami, Florida 0.0 0.0
7.3 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 10.4 26.4
8.8 Minneapolis, Minnesota 11.4 29.0
0.5 Nashville, Tennessee 0.4 1.0
0.0 New Orleans, Louisiana 0.0 0.0
2.1 New York, New York 4.9 12.4
1.4 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1.8 4.6
0.0 Orlando, Florida 0.0 0.0
1.8 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 3.5 8.9
0.0 Phoenix, Arizona 0.0 0.0
7.6 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 7.7 19.6
Days Place Inches Centi­metres
0.8 Portland, Oregon 1.4 3.6
3.4 Providence, Rhode Island 7.6 19.3
0.5 Raleigh, North Carolina 0.8 2.0
0.9 Richmond, Virginia 1.8 4.6
0.0 Riverside, California 0.0 0.0
13.5 Rochester, New York 22.3 56.6
0.0 Sacramento, California 0.0 0.0
7.1 Salt Lake City, Utah 12.1 30.7
0.0 San Antonio, Texas 0.1 0.3
0.0 San Diego, California 0.0 0.0
0.0 San Francisco, California 0.0 0.0
0.0 San Jose, California 0.0 0.0
1.5 Seattle, Washington 1.7 4.3
3.2 St. Louis, Missouri 3.2 8.1
0.0 Tampa, Florida 0.0 0.0
0.0 Tucson, Arizona 0.0 0.0
1.2 Tulsa, Oklahoma 1.7 4.3
0.5 Virginia Beach, Virginia 1.1 2.8
1.3 Washington, DC 1.7 4.3
Reference

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Climate Normals.

US City Snowfall
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