Dreaming of a White Christmas? Dream On, St. Louis

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas dream may be more fantasy than fact for metro St. Louis, and locals seem to be just fine with that.

Christmas 2010 delivered snow around the St. Louis metro area. But this season’s skies will not disappoint those hoping for milder weather at Christmas.

• Watch: YouTube video of snowfall in St. Louis on Dec. 24, 2010

According to weather.gov, the forecast for Sunday will be sunny and warm with a high of 49°F degrees. The low will be 27°F with clear skies expected.

“Traditionally it’s not typically snowy,” Jim Kramper, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service St. Louis said.

Chris Higgins, a meteorologist at , said St. Louisans woke to snow on just 21 Christmas Days in the last 112 years. In that same time period, only four Christmas Days yielded more than an inch of the white stuff. 

That number jumps to 16 if you count all the Christmas days with both an inch accumulation and light flurries, Higgins said.

The normal weather for a metro St. Louis Christmas is pretty mild. Higgins said the average high is around 44°F, with an average low temperature around 25°F.

And this year, snow in St. Louis is running a little late, Higgins said. Usually residents can expect snow in December, he said. Higgins predicted the next big snow will come in early 2012.