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Nothing beats waking up Christmas morning to find a fresh blanket of snow outside. But if you're dreaming of a white Christmas this year, you'll likely be disappointed.
The Weather Channel is forecasting that much of the United States won't have snow for Christmas, according to a USA Today story. Here are a few facts from the story about this season's snowfall:
Here are a few ideas to localize the story:
YOUR WEATHER EXPERTS: Check with meteorologists in your area to see if they predict snow for you. Ask for data from the past 10 Christmases to see if you usually have a white Christmas. Look for opportunities to do a By the Numbers alternative story format highlighting temperatures, inches of snow and even how much money your town budgets for snow removal.
MEMORIES OF WHITE CHRISTMAS: Ask people who clear snow for their memories of the biggest Christmas snow. You can also do a quick reader callout to ask for people to send photos or memories of Christmas snow.
CHILDREN'S THOUGHTS: If school is still in session this week, see if you can work with teachers to ask young children what Santa does when there isn't snow on Christmas. Run as many responses as you can in the paper, and be sure to collect the rest and run them online with names.
Jean Hodges served as a reporter and editor for more than 20 years and led groundbreaking projects that won national acclaim before coming to GateHouse to launch the company's news service. She worked most recently at the Chicago Sun-Times' Daily Southtown, covering the south side and south suburbs of Chicago. Before that she worked at the Killen (Texas) Daily Herald, the Clovis (N.M.) News Journal and the Ely Standard in Cambridgeshire, England. She now works with GateHouse news organizations on content strategies, Web initiatives, plus she leads training programs such as webinars and LEDE, GateHouse's leadership program.
