photo by: Richard Gwin

A Lawrence police officer and a whole crew of bystanders worked to get this car out of the snow drifts at 19th and Vermont. More than 6 inches fell Dec. 24, 2009, into Christmas morning, making it a white Christmas.

Lawrence residents hoping for a white Christmas will have to hope for it next year, said Matt Wolters, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Topeka.

The forecast for the Lawrence area over the next week is expected to be mostly sunny with highs in the mid-40s.

Although snow is common in Kansas during winter, which officially begins Friday, a white Christmas is not.

The area hasn’t received much snow on Christmas in the last nine years, Wolters said. While the area received snow on Christmas Eve in 2013 and 2017, with trace amounts still on the ground on Christmas Day, it has not snowed on the holiday since 2009.

That year, Lawrence didn’t just receive snow but a full-on blizzard. Douglas County received about 8.5 inches of snow between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that year.

Wolters said Christmas has been relatively clear ever since.

Not only will there be no snow, but the temperature will be slightly warmer than usual on Christmas Day. Wolters said the forecast shows partly sunny skies with a high of 47 on Tuesday. The Lawrence average for this time of year is about 41 degrees.

“You don’t typically think of Christmas Day as (near) the 50s,” he said. “But it’s not like we’re expecting a deep freeze either. Forty-seven is relatively warm, but it’s not terrible.”

The Lawrence area has a chance for snow the day after Christmas, but Wolters said it’s much more likely to be rain. The early forecast for Wednesday also shows a chance for thunderstorms.

“We’re watching the (storm) system for the day after Christmas, and there could be rain mixed with snow early in the morning, but the real concern is the potential for thunderstorms,” he said. “That kind of gives you an idea of how warm the weather is expected to be.”