In Dec. of 2024, a white Christmas was more than late as the weather was a warm and sunny 70 degrees in Richmond. Many Virginians suspected that a white Christmas or snow in general was no more, until this past Jan. of 2025. So why was December so warm?
Chemistry teacher Charles Hughes believes that there are many factors affecting the weather; the Earth’s atmosphere and El Niño and La Niña weather patterns which can change precipitation and the chance of snowfall.
“The warming of the ocean’s El Nino or La Niña in the Pacific Ocean can cause different weather patterns, so really, it’s a matter of how the earth’s atmosphere is constantly changing,” Hughes said. “This past December, we were in a pattern that had the warmer air from the south being stronger and pushing the colder air up north.”
Astronomy and environmental teacher Nicholas Braun suggests that Dec. in Virginia is historically warm, as he references his life while living in Virginia as Jan. was the most likely month for snow.
“I lived in Virginia all my life [and] we normally get snow in January. January is our snow month,” Braun said.
Oceanography and science teacher Mac McMullen thinks that the recent polar vortex storms that have been hitting North America in the last few years have pushed further into Virginia causing Jan. to be cold.
“I think that the polar vortex storms that have been hitting more northern parts of our countries in the last couple years got even more stable and pushed even further down like into Virginia,” McMullen said.
El Niño and La Niña are weather patterns found in the Pacific Ocean. El Niño represents warmer temperatures at the Pacific Ocean’s surface, and La Niña represents the cooler temperatures at the Pacific Ocean’s surface.
Hughes believes that the colder weather had to be affected by the change from El Niño to La Niña to deal with the recent snowfall, and the combination of weather patterns can be a possible reason for the snow.
“They [El Niño and La Niña] can affect it, [and] they can make the conditions better, or worse,”Hughes said. “It affects how likely it is that we’re gonna get the right combination of snow in Richmond.”
Braun also agrees that El Niño and La Niña have to do with the recent snowfall in Richmond, as the weather patterns can impact the East Coast.
“I think La Niña and El Niño are weather patterns in the Pacific ocean that can impact the East Coast,” Braun said.
McMullen suggests that it is possible for El Niño and La Niña to affect the recent moisture to the atmosphere as he suspects that the polar storms have more effects than El Niño and La Niña because of the wind patterns.
“I think it’s possible because it would definitely, internally, add more moisture to the atmosphere,” Mc Mullen said. “I think it would have more to do with, again, those polar storms because we see most of the weather coming from north to south when the way it hits us as opposed to El Niño and La Niña would be moving south to north.”
Braun lists the recent instances of snowfall within the past two weeks, as he believes the Arctic air coming from Canada is going to freeze the roads.
“We have had five, four, storms in the past two weeks. There’s an Arctic air mass coming down,” Braun said.
McMullen suggests that the snow in Virginia will not last very long, as the weather is unpredictable.
“I mean it’s Virginia. I don’t think it would last for too much longer. I think we’ve already seen a kind of shift in the weather since early January, but I mean it’s unpredictable and they have shown that it could change on a time,” McMullen said.
Hughes believes that climate change is a complicated subject, relating to the fire in California and the recent snowfall on the East Coast and that simply ruling the recent snowstorm to be climate change is unscientific.
“Climate change describes the overall temperatures and the situation of the earth as a whole, any individual weather events. I think it’s not scientific to ascribe that to climate change,” Hughes said. “The reality is our atmosphere and our earth is so complicated and the interactions are so complicated. The idea of being able to point to a snowy winter or warmer winter and saying that’s climate change, that’s completely unscientific.”
Braun suggests that weather is very dynamic and that using global warming to justify the wildfires in California can be wrong, as for the recent snowfall can be the earth that is going through cycles.
“Half the USA is on fire and half is freezing? I think that’s weather is very dynamic,” Braun said. “The wildfires in California have been historically extremely dry in California. I believe those fires started from potentially human induced.”
“Why [is it] snowing right now? I believe the earth just goes through cycles. It’s cyclical,” Braun said.
McMullen thinks that climate change is affecting the recent temperatures as he addresses the switch from global warming to climate change.
“You know, we try to use climate change more than global warming now, because we’re recognizing that it’s not just about the heat,” McMullen said. “In some areas causing bigger storms, it’s about lack of moisture, in some areas, causing the fires like in California.”
Hughes inspects that there is no way to know if Virginia is going to get a trend of snowfall, as he references the work of teleconnections, meteorologists. There are many patterns and not enough to predict the snowfall in the early years.
“There’s all kinds of things that will affect the overall temperature on the East Coast and it’s really important to remember that when we’re talking about snow, we’re looking at a very small region of the country when we have years without snow,” Hughes said. “That really is based on those patterns and we don’t understand those patterns, well, enough to predict whether next year’s going to be snowier.”
Braun believes that there is no trend of snowfall in Virginia.
“I don’t think [there] is a trend yet, and we had five years of no snow and we got a lot of snow this year,” Braun said. “Flip a coin, maybe we’ll get more snow next year.”
McMullen says that it is uncertain that the snowfall would be a new trend in Virginia, as he references other cities’ trends.
“It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if this trend continues. Cities like New York and Chicago, a couple years ago, get these big snow storms and all that seems to be kind of the norm for those cities, so I would not be surprised if we kept getting snow in this area for the next couple of years,” McMullen said.
Hughes says that snow in Dec. for Richmond is very rare and requires colder air for a long period of time and the best time of snowfall in Virginia is the middle of Jan. through the end of Feb.
“I will say this historically speaking. A December snow is relatively rare for Richmond. It requires much colder air for a longer period of time, the best times for snow in Richmond tends to be mid January through the end of February,” Hughes said.
As a new chapter opens for holiday snow, as the weather pattern El Niño and La Niña has changed the path for Virginia’s weather, it was not known if we would be seeing snow last Dec. but Jan. will always be Virginia’s month for snow.
