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Weather IQ: Charlotte's end of the year holiday weather extremes and averages

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's have quite the range of extremes for weather in the Charlotte area. Here are the normal and records for the holiday season.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It is now officially the holiday season! But from Thanksgiving to New Year's the weather changes a lot. So before we ring in the New Year, here is your Charlotte holiday climatology! 

Thanksgiving:

Starting with Thanksgiving, the weather data is a tad tricky since the date changes every year. Thanksgiving falls on the 4th Thursday of November ranging from November 22nd to the 28th.

A normal Turkey day has a high of 59° and a low around 38°.

Thanksgiving extremes:

  • 74 degrees is the warmest on record, happening twice in 1985 and 2016. 
  • 2008 was the coldest Thanksgiving morning of 19°.
  • 1.68" was the wettest turkey day back in 1983.

Snow? Not in Charlotte. It has never snowed on Thanksgiving. 

RELATED: Weather IQ: Charlotte Thanksgiving Climatology & Extremes

Christmas:

Every Christmas the main question is... Will we have a White Christmas. Sadly since 1878, there has only been measurable snow 4 times and a trace of snow 8 times. Meaning seeing snowflakes on Christmas only happens every 12 years or so.

RELATED: Weather IQ: How often it actually snows on Christmas in Charlotte

A typical Charlotte area Christmas has a high around 53 and a low just above freezing. (53.2° & 33.2°)

Christmas Extremes:

  • The coldest Christmas morning was only 4 degrees.
  • The warmest Christmas Day was 77 but Christmas has reached the 70s 6 times.
  • The wettest Christmas was in 1914, where 2.32" of rain fell.
  • The snowiest was in 1947where Charlotte had

New Year's:

Since this day is only a week after Christmas, the weather doesn't change much. 

But at this point our average high and low for the dead of winter are established at 52 for a high a freezing for a low.

  • New Year's Extremes:
    The warmest New Years in Charlotte happened recently! Starting off 2022 at 78 degrees. 
  • Overnight from New Year's Eve have been below 20 degrees 9 times. With the coldest first morning of the year dropping to 10 degrees.
  • The wettest was in 1987 (1.54"). There has only been over an inch of rain to start the year three times. 

As for snow, it has snowed 10 times to start a new year with only 4 years where it was measurable.

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