Don’t expect to see snow on Christmas Day Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston. Here snow covers the Bell Bridge in Washington County last month. (Photo by Art Smith)

PARKERSBURG — Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas” on the radio has a better chance of occurring than snow on Christmas Day in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

“Chances are pretty slim,” said Joe Curtis, a meteorologist at the Charleston office of the National Weather Service.

A white Christmas, as defined by the National Weather Service, is at least an inch of snow on the ground Christmas morning, usually at 7 a.m., and includes any snow from days before, but not snow falling later in the day.

Rain is more likely than snow this week, even in the higher elevations, Curtis said.

“We’re expecting a warm week for the most part,” he said

The forecast for the Parkersburg and Marietta area for this week includes a 50% chance of rain today before 1 p.m. While cloudy, temperatures are expected in the low 50s. Wednesday, Christmas Eve, will be partly sunny with the high near 50. Thunderstorms are possible.

While rain is forecast for Christmas Day at a 70% chance, the high is expected in the lower 60s.

Friday will be warmer, too, the Weather Service said.

“We could have colder temperatures for the weekend,” Curtis said.

Snow also has been melting in the higher elevations and in northeast West Virginia, he said.

“A lot of that snow (from last week) has melted,” Curtis said. “It’s warm up there, too.”

The first day of winter, the winter solstice, was on Sunday. Days will be getting longer.

Historical observations for the Parkersburg area are available at weather.gov/rlx from the National Weather Service.

Based on data from 1991 to 2020, the chance of a white Christmas in this region is 16%.

The warmest Christmas here was 70 in 1982. The warmest low was 58, also in 1982.The coldest high and low was 4 and 7, respectively, in 1983.

The most snowfall on Christmas Day was 2.5 inches in 1935. The deepest depth of snow on Christmas Day was 5 inches in 1963.

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com