Has SLO County ever had a white Christmas? See chances for holiday snow
Do you dream of waking up to a snowy Christmas morning in San Luis Obispo County?
A significant atmospheric river storm is sweeping through SLO County, with powerful winds and several inches of rain expected on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Some are wondering whether the stormy weather could also bring a dusting of snow onto local mountaintops.
That kind of winter wonderland is a common phenomenon on the East Coast, in the Midwest and even parts of California at higher elevations.
Has SLO County ever had a white Christmas? And is it even possible for the Central Coast to see snow on Dec. 25?
The Tribune talked to weather experts to find out the answer.
Has SLO County ever had a white Christmas?
“As far as I know, it hasn’t” snowed on Christmas Day in San Luis Obispo County, said John Lindsey, a retired PG&E meteorologist.
While snow flurries have appeared in San Luis Obispo in December, the flakes have never stuck to the ground on Christmas Day, he said.
The National Weather Service defines a white Christmas as at least 1 inch of snow on the ground on the morning of Dec. 25.
According to a weather service map, there’s a 0% to 10% historical probability of snow landing on the Central Coast on Christmas.
SLO County came relatively close to a white Christmas on Dec. 15, 1988, when a powerful storm swept into Central California, Lindsey said.
The weather event closed Highway 101 at the Cuesta Grade north of San Luis Obispo, shutting down schools, stranding travelers and prompting more than 130 people to take refuge at emergency shelters.
The North County saw record amounts of snow, ranging from 5 to 8 inches, with Santa Margarita receiving a whopping 7 inches.
“It looked like a winter wonderland in the North County on that day,” Lindsey wrote in his column for The Tribune in 2019.
Is a white Christmas possible in SLO County in 2025?
Plenty of rain will fall across SLO County on Christmas Day — Thursday, Dec. 25 — but no snow is expected, National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Thompson told The Tribune on Monday.
“All rain, really just no snow issues at all,” Thompson said.
On Thursday, there’s a 100% chance of precipitation in SLO County, according to the National Weather Service’s latest seven-day forecast.
Conditions will be cloudy and wet with a high temperature around 61 degrees.
“With this system, because it’s really tapping into a lot of sub-tropical moisture, I think it’s just going to be too warm to really produce any snow, even on our highest peaks,” Lindsey said.
However, mountainous regions of Ventura and Los Angeles counties could see some dustings of snow on Christmas evening, Thompson told The Tribune.
Why is holiday snowfall unlikely in SLO County?
Due to SLO County’s coastal location, temperatures rarely dip below freezing, Lindsey said.
“It’s great to keep people comfortable, but it stinks for snow,” he said.
SLO County winters are usually too warm to produce snow because of the region’s proximity to the Pacific Ocean, Lindsey told The Tribune.
“There’s just too much marine influence,” Lindsey explained. “The air coming off the Pacific Ocean is basically too mild.”
For snow to materialize in SLO County, the region would need an upper-level low-pressure system to bring a lot of cold air to the surface, he said. That would be the key to see snow fall in lower-elevation locations.
December also tends to be relatively dry in SLO County compared to other winter months, which means there’s less precipitation available to turn into fluffy snowflakes.
On average, Cal Poly recorded 4.01 inches of rain in December from 1893 to 2016, Western Regional Climate Center data show, compared to an average of 4.96 inches in January.
During roughly the same time period, Paso Robles received an average of 2.56 inches of rain in December and 3.46 inches of rain on average in January, the center said.
When has SLO County gotten significant snow?
Snow has been spotted on the Central Coast several times over the past century or so, according to Tribune archives.
In 1910, the area experienced what the San Luis Obispo Tribune described as the “heaviest snow storm since 1885.”
Photos from 1922 show snow on the ground in Monterey Street in downtown San Luis Obispo.
In February 1944, local residents drove up the Cuesta Grade to have a snowball fight, Tribune photographer David Middlecamp wrote in a 2019 “Photos from the Vault” column
Shandon got almost 4 inches of snow in December 1967, when chains were required to drive between Morro Bay and Atascadero, Middlecamp said.
In March 1976, a storm topped local hillsides with snow, closing the Cuesta Grade to Highway 101 traffic and forcing the Goodyear blimp to land at San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport.
Snow also closed the Cuesta Grade in March 1991.
In February 2019, a chilly low-pressure system led to low snow levels throughout the Central Coast.
Most recently in 2023, a storm dropped snow across the higher elevations of SLO County in February, dusting vineyards in Paso Robles, frosting fields off Highway 58 and providing a dramatic backdrop for surfers competing in the SLO CAL Open in Morro Bay.
Caltrans closed parts of Highway 41 and Highway 58 due to the wintry weather.
