Some Iowa State students may be dreaming of a white Christmas. Unfortunately for those students, their dreams may not come true.

“There is a very good chance that it would stay cold until Christmas with little or no snow,” said Bill Gallus, assistant professor of geological and atmospheric sciences. “The colder weather will increase our chances of a white Christmas a little because any precipitation that falls will be snow.”

Students such as Nick Groves, junior in agronomy, are not too happy with Gallus’s Christmas outlook.

“I do not like the fact that it does not look like we will have a white Christmas,” Groves said. “It makes it hard to get into the holiday mood.”

Usually by this time of the year, Ames has had its first measurable snow.

Instead of snow, the state of Iowa received many record-breaking days of above-normal temperatures.

Current predictions do not forecast any weather systems bringing snow to Iowa anytime soon.

“Warm temperatures are nice,” said Breea Lemm, senior in meteorology. “[But] there is just something about snow on Christmas that makes things seem more festive.”

Gallus said the chances for central Iowa getting a white Christmas in a normal year “is at most a 50 percent chance.”

With this year’s dry weather, Iowans’ chances may be a little lower.

Lemm’s outlook is a little less optimistic than Gallus’. “I would say there is a 30 percent chance of a white Christmas this year,” she said.

The warm temperatures ISU students had been enjoying is one reason Christmas does not look like it will be white.

Another reason is because the state’s weather pattern has been so dry.

“Since we have had three very dry months in a row, one of the next three months should end up with normal precipitation,” Gallus said. “For a La Ni¤a year, it is very common to have very large swings in the weather.”

The large swings in the weather could bring Iowans to a good cold snap, which also would include some snow. In November, Iowa had one storm system that dropped more than an inch of rain in some areas. That rain brought the monthly precipitation close to normal.

But because Christmas is still far away, no one really knows if any of these large swings in the weather could bring snow for the holidays.

“I think growing up in the Midwest, you expect a white Christmas. When it doesn’t happen, it is kind of disappointing,” Lemm said.

Some students don’t need a lot of snow to please them this Christmas.

“As long as there is an inch of snow on the ground, I would be happy,” Groves said.