Philadelphia’s First Snowfall – The First Date You Should Expect to See White in 2023-24

Philadelphia's first snowflakes of the 2023-2024 winter season... are almost here. After a basically snowless winter season in 2022-2023.

In fact, they could definitely be less than a month away. It's snowed in October on quite a few occasions in Philadelphia, and it's certainly possible it could snow at least once before the middle of November 2023.

But how realistic is that? When will we likely see our first snowflakes of the year? I did some digging to try to guess when we'd see our first snowflakes of the year, based on recent history.

I dug into the first date of snow for the past 12 years, and down below I've outlined what we may be able to take away from this history to make a guess.

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To start, I looked at the date of Philadelphia's first traceable snowfall over the past 13 years in Philadelphia, according to WeatherUnderground.com via a report compiled by jcweather.com in addition to some sourcing from CertifiedSnowTotals.com.

What's The Average Date of The First Snow Fall in Philadelphia, PA Each Winter?

Winter of 2022 - 2023 - First Snowfall: November 18, 2022

Winter of 2021 - 2022 - First snowfall: December 27, 2021

Winter of 2020 - 2021 - First snowfall: December 9, 2020

Winter of 2019 - 2020 - First snowfall: November 12, 2019

.. Alright. That's a start, but I kept digging.

Winter of 2018 - 2019 - First snowfall: November 15, 2018

Winter of 2017 - 2018 - First snowfall: December 9, 2017

Winter of 2016 - 2017 - First snowfall: November 20, 2016

Winter of 2015 - 2016 - First snowfall: January 12, 2016

Winter of 2014 - 2015 - First snowfall: November 13, 2014

Winter of 2013 - 2014 - First snowfall: November 12, 2013

Wait, that's a bit of a trend there with mid-November. But I kept scrolling.

Winter of 2012 - 2013 - First snowfall: November 7, 2012

Winter of 2011-2012 - First snowfall: October 29, 2011

Winter of 2010 - 2011 - First snowfall: November 25, 2010

Alright. So based on that in the past 13 years, the evidence is pretty overwhelming...

I guess we'll see our first snowflakes in the month of November.

Don't believe me?

Here's the breakdown by month of when Philadelphia has seen its first snowflakes each year

• October - 1 time
• November - 8 times
• December - 3 times
• January - 1 time

Alright. So maybe we're only 30-45 days away from snow in Philly. Buckle up!

Or... of course, it could be one of those years where we wait until January for our first snowflakes.