In the past 115 years, only 31 Christmas Days have been white. The National Weather Service defines a white Christmas as an inch or more of snow on the ground. The last white Christmas in Columbia came in 2002, when 5 inches of snow fell the night before. Columbians had 11 inches of snow on the ground on Christmas Day in 1915. The snow had fallen before the holiday. The 1983 Christmas was definitely one for the record books. The high temperature that Christmas Eve was minus 7 degrees, a record low for Columbia. With 40 straight hours of wind chills below 30 degrees in the days leading up to Christmas, the wind chill reached minus 40 on Christmas morning. The Christmas Day of 1889 was the only one to reach the 70s.

With a 50 percent chance of snow and a low in the 20s forecast for Christmas Eve, then a chance of flurries and a high in the 40s Christmas Day, there's an outside chance the dream made famous by Bing Crosby's baritone might come true.

The small amount of snow in the forecast, however, probably will fall short of the National Weather Service definition of a white Christmas. To meet that standard, at least one inch of snow would have to be on the ground at some point on Sunday.

Others, however, are more demanding. Danielle Tapia, who was shopping with friends, stopped at Broadway and Ninth Street to say that a white Christmas must meet specific criteria.

Brenda Wagner, who was ?people watching? from a bench at the Columbia Mall, almost certainly will have to wait for her white Christmas. In fact, by her definition, there hasn't been one in Missouri since weather records have been kept.

?I like it really cold, in the teens, with 5 to 10 inches of snow,? the Boonville resident said while taking a break during her shift at the McDonald's in the mall.

Back downtown, two men collecting donations for a homeless shelter had a different take on white Christmases. One, who identified himself only as Chris, said it's about something other than weather.

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