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It’s not common to see snow on Christmas in North Texas, with only a handful of instances on record.
According to the National Weather Service website, the “earliest record” of snow on Christmas Day in Dallas was in 1841, when “soldiers were tracking a bear in 6 inches of snow,” but the source of that report is unclear.
While 2023 isn’t likely to bring snow to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, here is a look back at the history of snow on Christmas in the region through’ archival material and information from the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. This list does not include instances of snow before or after Christmas Day.
‘Gloomy’ with snow in 1914
A “trace” of snow was reported Dec. 25, 1914, in Dallas and in Fort Worth, with some mix of rain and snow, along with “a few flurries,” according to the weather service.
A newspaper clip from Dec. 26, 1914, described how some in the city anticipated “the rare experience of a white Christmas,” but noted how the “snowstorm did not continue long” on Christmas Day.
“It was as if a sportive Canadian cloud had wandered from bounds and suddenly recalled itself, making the damp, chill, cloudy weather that followed all the more gloomy by contrast,” the article read.
Half-foot of snow in 1926
According to a clip from in 1926, Dallas residents finally got a picturesque snow day on Christmas. A photo from the clip read the following: “Adults turned children Saturday to take occasion of Dallas’ big Christmas snow. At the upper left is a snowball fight, to the upper right, a young man taking a snapshot of his girlfriend, who is holding up a huge bunch of snow as a bouquet. At the bottom, left, a small boy is telling his mother how to complete the snowman, while to the right is a view of one of the small streams in Highland Park Christmas morning.”
Six inches of snow were reported in Dallas and Collin counties, according to the National Weather Service. In Dallas, 6.3 inches of snow reportedly fell on Christmas Day .
“Much of the snow was gone by the afternoon of Christmas day,” the NWS website notes.
Snow goes unnoticed by many in 1975
A Dec. 26, 1975, article in The News with the headline, “Most miss Christmas snow in area” described how many residents in the city were “too snugly nestled in their beds to notice” the first white Christmas in nearly five decades.
“However, the flakes melted as they fell and there was no accumulation,” the article read.
The weather service website noted “much of the snow” in the Dallas-Fort Worth area melted before hitting the ground, but also stated “flurries were reported at DFW Airport,” and less than an inch of snow accumulated at the airport.
White, ‘treacherous’ Christmas in 2012
On Dec. 25, 2012, a “strong upper level system and a cold front” brought hail to Dallas-Fort Worth and a “winter weather event that included snow and sleet,” according to NWS Fort Worth.
“The greatest concentration of heavy snow was in western Denton County and Collin County where 4 to 6 inches of snow fell,” the NWS Fort Worth website states.
A Dec. 26 article in headlined, “White Christmas, but treacherous, too,” described how “steadily falling snow” in the region “made for dangerously slick conditions.” A report in The News the following day described how “some 1,000 travelers were stranded Christmas night” at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport after winter storms caused more than 400 flight cancellations.
Despite some of the dangerous road conditions caused by the snow that year, photos also showed residents in North Texans enjoying the snowy Christmas Day.