News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Alpena resident Tim Mobus sits outside Cabin Creek Coffee on Monday as snow falls.

ALPENA — A white Christmas seems unlikely according to the current data provided by a National Weather Service meteorologist.

“Trends are definitely leaning towards green Christmas this year,” said Sean Christiansen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord.

According to Christiansen, temperatures on Christmas Day are looking warmer and dryer than normal for this time of year, with there being no strong evidence that there is going to be snowfall on Christmas Day.

“Temperatures are looking to be above normal for this time of the year, you know, warmer than normal temperatures and then also be drier than normal for this time of the year,” said Christiansen. “As we head towards Christmas over the next few days, there’s, after this, an effect moves out of the region, high-pressure moves in, and we have some pretty quiet weather for the next few days.”

According to data provided by the National Weather Service, over the last 25 years Alpena has averaged 4.8 inches of snow depth on Christmas day. However, Alpena has consistently had snow depths beneath that average since 2017 with the latest measurements from 2022 having snow depth at just three inches.

Despite this, Alpena citizens largely want to see a white Christmas.

“It would be nice,” said Alpena resident Tom Mobus about whether or not he would like to see a white Christmas this year. “Mostly white Christmas would be for the kids.”

“I’d like it to be a little bit snowier,” said Alpena resident Keegan Harris. “Because I also wanted to do more activities.”