Weather Records Reveal Number of Snowy Christmases

The State Climate Office of North Carolina has operated through the University of North Carolina system for over 40 years.  Since 1980 it has been under the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at NC State University. 

Digging out near the Clayton Hotel on Main and Caldwell streets, late 1920s.

Their website, climate.ncsu.edu, offers a wide range of information related to our weather.  Many of the records date back to 1870, although for Transylvania County record keeping begin in 1902. 

The Weather Extreme database is searchable by location and date.  It includes high and low temperatures, temperature changes, and warmest and coldest weather station.  It also identifies highest precipitation amounts within a day, a 24-hour period, and within a calendar year, along with wettest and driest weather stations.

Snowy scene from the past on West Main Street, early 1920s.

Lake Towaway is the wettest weather station across the state with 91.72 inches of precipitation annually.  Rosman ranks third with 79.06.  Highlands in Macon is second.  The state record for highest amount of precipitation in one calendar year is held by Rosman with 129.60 inches in 1964.

The recent unexpected snowfall was recorded as 8.5 inches in Pisgah Forest on December 9th which ranked 4th on the state-wide greatest amount of snowfall for that day over all years.  It should be noted that information for 2017 was only available through December 9 at the time this article was written.

The top five one-day snowfall events for Transylvania County since 1902 are 17 inches in Brevard on December 3, 1971; 16 inches in Rosman on March 3, 1942; 15 inches at Lake Toxaway on December 4, 1971; 14.7 inches at Lake Toxaway on January 22, 2016; and 14 inches in Rosman on January 8, 1988.

The website also contains a White Christmas section that shows the probability of snow on Christmas Day by weather station.  Over 104 years of records Brevard has had a snowy Christmas just 7 times, Rosman recorded 6 snowy Christmases in 80 years, and Lake Toxaway 5 in 61 years.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.