New Year’s is one of those holidays where people take particular note of the weather. Snow and ice can make holiday celebrations difficult. And in fact, on average we are more likely to see snow and ice on New Year’s Eve than on Christmas. One in four years are likely to end up with a white start to the new year, compared to a 1 in 5 chance for a White Christmas. One memorable start to the year occurred in 1978-79. From Tribune to Ottawa and Minneapolis to Medicine Lodge, snow started on the 30th of December and ended on January 1st. Storm totals ranged from 5 inches in Medicine Lodge to 10 inches at Ottawa. Manhattan saw 11.5 inches from the storm. The most recent snowy New Year’s in Manhattan was in 2013, when we recorded 3.3 inches of snow, with 23 hundredths of an inch of moisture.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu