First December in over 100 years without snow in Central Park

"There's about 0% chance of snow for Christmas," said National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Maloit.

Although four Decembers in the past 10 years have produced less than 1/10th of an inch of snow each in Central Park, the lack of even a single flurry is extremely unusual, Maloit said.

Maloit is blaming the lack of the white stuff on El Niño, an abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern tropical Pacific.

"If you look at other years when there's been only a trace of snow in December, they were El Niño years, too," he said. "It warms everything up, but it can change."

Maloit said the lowest snowfall recorded in Central Park was 2.8 inches in the winter of 1972-73.

"I'm willing to bet we'll have at least that," he said.